SHOW OF STRENGTH BUT ABSENCE OF AGREEMENT

On August 15, 2025, Alaska hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin with full honours at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed him with applause and a warm handshake. The event held global importance, symbolizing Putin’s re-emergence on the international stage after years of isolation by European nations in response to the Russia–Ukraine conflict that began in 2022..

Putin has made history by becoming the first Russian president to visit Alaska—a region Russia sold to the United States in 1867 for $7.2 million. This visit marks his eighth trip to the U.S. during his presidency, a position he has held since late 1999, with a four-year break between 2008 and 2012. His most recent visit to the U.S. was in 2015, when he travelled to New York for the United Nations General Assembly and met with then-President Barack Obama.

The warm gestures exchanged between the two leaders set the stage for the highly anticipated Trump–Putin meeting, aimed at discussing an end to the Ukraine conflict. The world watched closely, as President Trump expressed confidence in achieving a ceasefire. Notably, neither Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy nor European leaders were invited to the talks. In the end, however, the meeting proved futile, with both leaders departing Alaska without reaching any deal or ceasefire agreement.

The day began with high expectations. As a B-2 bomber thundered overhead at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Presidents Trump and Putin paused for photographs before stepping into Trump's armoured limousine, known as The Beast. What was originally planned as a private one-on-one meeting was later expanded to include Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff on the U.S. side, while Putin was joined by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Foreign Affairs Adviser Yuri Ushakov. The talks lasted just under three hours. Following the meeting, both leaders held a joint press conference but did not take questions from the press

Putin was the first to speak. He praised the constructive atmosphere of mutual respect in the neighbourly talks and then launched into a condensed history of Alaska’s past as a Russian territory. He said that in order to make a settlement lasting and long-term, it was necessary to eliminate the root causes of the conflict in Ukraine. Putin acknowledged Trump’s efforts to facilitate a resolution to the Ukraine conflict and stressed that the issue stemmed from fundamental security concerns for Russia. He reiterated that Russia has always regarded Ukraine as a brotherly nation with shared roots, calling the ongoing war a tragedy and a deep wound, while affirming that Moscow was genuinely interested in bringing it to an end.

He further endorsed Trump’s claim that had he been the U.S. President in 2022, the Ukraine war would never have begun. Trump’s remarks, however, were brief and lacking in detail, and it did not appear that any concrete steps were taken towards resolving the conflict. No major agreements were reached, nor was a trilateral meeting with President Zelensky announced.

Viewed in its entirety, the meeting yielded no tangible results. It highlighted Putin’s unwillingness to bow to U.S. dominance or to relent under Trump’s sanctions and tariffs. Despite Trump's campaign promise to end the war on his first day in office, that commitment remains unfulfilled. From once praising Putin and criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, to later labelling Putin “crazy” and threatening both direct and indirect sanctions, Trump’s stance has fluctuated. His decision to host Putin in Alaska appeared aimed at brokering a ceasefire—and perhaps bolstering his case for a Nobel Prize—but those ambitions went unrealized. For now, the world is left waiting to see whether the summit will produce any concrete outcomes in the long term.

And so, the Alaska summit ended without resolution, leaving behind more questions than answers. Neither leader showed any inclination to compromise. For now, the war in Ukraine continues, undisturbed by promises or political theatre.

What was intended as a bold diplomatic gesture became a reminder of the deep divides that still define U.S.–Russia relations. The absence of meaningful progress underscored the limitations of high-level optics in the face of entrenched geopolitical conflict.