Next Time in Moscow

The meeting of Putin and Trump was held under the slogan "in the desire for peace." Apparently, it was not possible to approach him

Historical and epoch -making - with such epithets, the American White House and the media around the world described in advance the meeting of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, which took place in Alaska on August 15. In many ways, this was justified: for the first time since February 2022, Putin - a man who is under the sanctions of the United States and the EU, and is also wanted Mus for war crimes - met with such honors. And not somewhere, but in the United States.

However, the main and only result of the negotiations was only the fact that Trump and Putin did not quarrel and did not quarrel. Going to the journalists, they said that the meeting was “extremely productive”: it was possible to achieve “agreements on many points”, although for some it would be necessary to agree on a position. But neither about these agreements, nor the remaining disagreements, not a single specific word was said. The possibilities of clarifying the details did not submit to the journalists: the press conference, contrary to the initial plan, ended without a single question. And this in itself was as eloquent as possible.

On the red carpet

It is unlikely that in modern history Anchoridge-a city with a 300,000th population-attracted so much attention to itself. After announcing the summit by Washington and Moscow in local hotels, and so filled due to the time of the tourist season, there was not a single free number left. Problems even arose with the placement of US secret service agents. What can we say, for example, about the journalists of the Putin pool, who, upon arrival at Anchoridge, began to unanimously send “lightning” to Moscow that they were placed at the stadium converted under the temporary accommodation point-as during the Covid-19 pandemic, with courses and partitions from screens.

Their Russian colleagues, meanwhile, walked around the city and looked for reasons for materials in souvenir stores , an Orthodox church , Pel 'Meni restaurant and a tourist information center, where they asked about local bears. They also quoted unnamed “representatives of the indigenous peoples of Alaska”, who at the sight of RIA Novosti journalists immediately exclaimed : “We love Putin, we love Russians! We are brothers. "

Mass protests, in which hundreds of local residents took part these days, the Russian state media, of course, did not notice. People went to marches and manifestations with the flags of Ukraine, as well as with posters “Putin - a military criminal” and “Alaska - with Ukraine”. At the same time, the shares were held not only in Anchorida, but throughout the state. Their names were said for themselves: “Fury against Putin and Trump in Alaska”, “We support Ukraine! War criminals are not happy in Alaska! ”,“ Arrested by Vladimir Putin. ”

The latter, however, could not be discussed. On the contrary, as the NBC News television channel said a few hours before the Summit, referring to sources in the US Presidential Administration, Donald Trump decided to provide the Russian president with the maximum possible honors. And in the end, everything happened.

Trump's board was the first to land at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base, where negotiations were planned. The ramp was adjusted to the plane, but the US president was in no hurry to go out: he was waiting for Vladimir Putin. Soon Il-96 landed, to which the red carpet was immediately laid. When everything was ready, Donald Trump began to go down the ramp, after which Vladimir Putin also left his plane.

Stopping at the crossroads of carpets, the US president suddenly began to applaud the Russian leader. After that there was a 11-second handshake, smiles and friendly pats on the shoulders. Throwing a pair of phrases, the leaders of the United States and the Russian Federation passed the last segment of the red carpet to a small scene with the inscription "Alaska 2025".

On both sides of the carpet, as if in an honorary guard, the F-22 invisible fighters were lined up, which were more than once used to intercept Russian aircraft flying into the airspace of the United States.

This time they had another task: to emphasize the solemnity of the situation. For an even greater effect, at this moment fighters and a strategic B-2 strategic bomber flew over the base.

Only American journalists made the picture, who began to shout their questions about the possibility of a truce and about when Russia finally stops the murder of civilians. Vladimir Putin only grinned, said Donald Trump.

Conversations alone and with witnesses

Instead of answering the questions of journalists Putin and Trump, they went down from the stage and together got into the American president’s armored Cadillac - a car, also known as the “beast”. And this despite the fact that the Russian leader was waiting for his personal car of the Aurus brand. The American media noted that such an invitation by the US president is extremely unusual. And then they remembered that in 2018, in Singapore, Trump wanted to put Kim Jong -un, but people from the US President strengthened it in his limousine leader and the North Korean leader. Now, in the second presidential term, Trump, his advisers are completely different people who do not overtake the president. There was no one to give the same recommendation.

In the car, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin talked for about 10-15 minutes without a translator. And this could be considered compensation for the fact that the further program was adjusted at the last moment. Initially, the Kremlin said that the two leaders will talk to a tete-a-tete, and then negotiations with the participation of delegations will take place. But a few hours before the event, the American side announced that the meeting would take place in the “three by three” format.

It was decided that from the American side, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Sender of the President Steve Whitkoff would join the conversation from the American side. With the Russian - the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the assistant to the president Yuri Ushakov. As a result, all of them were located against the background of a banner with the inscription Pursuing Peace (“in a desire for peace”) and silently spent for about a minute under the outbreaks of cameras. After which the journalists were persistently asked to leave the hall.

The change in the format was probably designed to guarantee greater clarity following the results of the meeting. As the Financial Times noted , the relations of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin during the first term of the Republican acquired a reputation as confusing and mysterious. The newspaper, in particular, recalled the first meeting of the current leaders of the USA and the Russian Federation in Germany in 2017: as its results, Donald Trump confiscated his translator to hide the details of negotiations. The presence of Rubio, Whitkoff, Lavrov and Ushakov was a guarantee that this would not happen again.

The meeting in this format lasted 2 hours 45 minutes, although Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested that she could take 6-7 hours. The program also implied a working lunch with the participation of already mentioned persons, as well as the heads of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation Andrei Belousov and Anton Siluanov, the special representative of the president for investment and economic cooperation with the foreign countries of Kirill Dmitrieva, the head of the Pentagon of Pitan Khegset, the US-Minister of Finance and Trade of the Scott of the Immort and the Header of the Posot and Hovard Lyutnik, as well as the heads of the White House apparatus, Susan Wiles. However, there was no news about the beginning of dinner, but in the press center they were noticeably perked up.

They did without question

In the press for the press, two stands were prepared in advance. Although no one had confidence in the fact that they need them. Before the meeting, Donald Trump said that he would like a joint press conference with Putin, but “if the meeting is not very good”, then he will go to reporters alone and say that “the war will continue and these people will continue to shoot and kill each other, it is terrible.”

As a result, two stands remained on the stage of the press center. The first was Vladimir Putin. He read out the text about the general heritage of the two countries, which “together smashed the common enemies” (“And this heritage will help us build mutually beneficial ties”). The fact that everything that happens in Ukraine is a “tragedy and severe pain” for Russia. The fact that relations with the United States "rolled to the lowest point from the time of the Cold War" - and now they need to be restored.

From the eight -minute performance of Putin it followed that in the near future everything should change for the better. The meeting was “very productive”, negotiations were held “in a constructive atmosphere”, “Trump administration“ Very good direct contacts ”were established with the administration, and the results of the meeting in Alaska will“ open the way to the world ”in Ukraine.

True, there was no specificity in these words. One could hope for Donald Trump, who took the floor after Putin (as the American journalists noted , this was a violation of all traditions: always after meetings with foreign leaders in American territory, the US President was the first).

Trump of the mood Vladimir Putin supported: he also said about “fantastic relations”, “a very productive meeting”, “consent on many, very many points”. The head of the White House said that

In his opinion, Putin is the same interested in stopping the conflict in Ukraine as he himself. But on a number of points of Ukrainian problems, the head of the White House added, there is still no consent between him and Putin. What exactly is being discussed, in his three -minute speech he also did not talk.

There was hope for questions of numerous journalists gathered at a press conference. But she did not materialize either. Having completed their performances, Trump and Putin left the stage without answering any of the questions. As Dmitry Peskov explained , it was decided to abandon the questions, as the presidents made absolutely “exhaustive statements”.

For the entire press conference there was only one episode that could be considered a specific “agreement”. “Very soon, I hope to see you again,” Donald Trump addressed Vladimir Putin before completing the performance. “Next Time in Moscow,” he said in response in English. “Oh, a very interesting offer. They will probably condemn me. But, I think, this [such a meeting] is quite possible. ”

Historical parallels

Expectations from the meeting in Anchoridge were ambiguous. On the one hand, the very fact of its holding was really historical. This is both the first meeting of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump since 2019 , and the first Russian-American summit since June 2021 , and the first visit of the Russian leader in Alaska, which was sold to the United States in 1867 for $ 7.2 million. The meeting could become a breakthrough from the point of view of restoring Russian-American ties and, most importantly, the most serious attempt to complete the war in Ukraine in three and a half. Full -scale conflict.

On the other hand, this attempt could lead to catastrophic consequences for Ukraine. As noted by the British newspaper The Telegraph, “the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky came,“ perhaps the most dangerous moment of the war, ”because“ the fate of his country could decide at a meeting that he was not invited. ” The general place in the arguments of experts and journalists on the eve of the summit was comparisons with the 1938 Munich agreement (then the Prime Minister of UK Neville Chamberlain allowed Adolf Hitler to join the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia) and with the Yalta Conference of 1945 (the USSR, the USA and Britain drew new borders in Europe).

Russian officials also carried out parallels with Yalta-1945-however, exclusively with a positive connotation. “Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill won the Second World War. Putin and Trump will prevent the third worldwide, ” wrote on the social network X Kirill Dmitriev. He supplemented his post with emoji with a dove of the world.

However, in the Kremlin and in the White House, a degree of expectations did not overshadow. The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that there will be no final document and you should not "try to run ahead and try to predict the result." And Donald Trump directly said that we are not talking about the culmination of the process, but about the beginning of the long way: there may be not one meeting in the same or expanded (that is, with the participation of the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky).

The Republican expressed the same thought at a press conference, in particular, announcing calls to Vladimir Zelensky and NATO allies. “I'm going to call them and tell them what happened,” said Trump, adding: “Ultimately, it all depends on them.” He did not report any details about what, in fact, happened.

In an atmosphere of uncertainty

According to diplomatic practice, such meetings of the leaders of the two powers are most often a ceremonial procedure. The role of the presidents is largely reduced to shake hands in front of journalists and sign documents in advance to the last comma.

But this was the wrong case. A source close to the Kremlin told The Washington Post that Vladimir Putin was preparing to meet with Donald Trump in a hurry and the Kremlin did not have a clear plan for the summit. Meanwhile, Donald Trump assessed the likelihood of a meeting of a meeting of 25%.

Against the background of complete uncertainty, there was no shortage of various forecasts and information leaks with links to unnamed sources. A number of Western publications reported that Donald Trump would offer to freeze most of the front line where it is taking place now. In this case, de facto talk would be about drawing borders that, although they will not receive international recognition, but for years, and, possibly for decades, will determine the realities on Earth. In addition, they added sources, Trump was going to coordinate with Moscow, and then with Kiev an additional “exchange of territories”. The US President himself said that in this exchange there will be both negative and positive points for Ukraine.

Vladimir Zelensky in response to these leaks assured that he was not going to “surrender his country”: “Is the state, is it, private property? 30% of the Donetsk region is this, my private property? “At the same time, he added a phrase that testified that he still has some space for the maneuver:“ The exchange of territories is a very difficult issue that cannot be separated from security guarantees for Ukraine, for our sovereign state and our people. ”

As claimed with reference to the sources of The Wall Street Journal, Putin will agree to a complete ceasefire if Ukraine withdraws troops from the entire territory of the Donetsk region. In this case, the annexed Crimea, the Lugansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine would have passed under the full control of Russia. At the same time, different sources on the eve of the meeting did not fully understand what in this case it would be from the Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions: whether the current front line would be fixed or Putin would completely withdraw his troops from there.

In addition, theoretically, Russian troops could leave the Kharkov, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions, which Moscow officially does not claim.

According to the results of Donald Trump’s negotiations with European leaders this week, “Two European officials and three more people familiar with the conversation,” the NBC television channel told : in fact, Trump “does not intend to discuss the section of territories with Putin” - he only wants to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine. However, other informed sources immediately warned the CNN channel: "When Trump goes to the meeting, anything can happen."

Murders on the day of negotiations

All days before the negotiations, the Ukrainian authorities and European leaders tried to convince Donald Trump that in Alaska he should take the most stringent position. “No one wants peace more than Ukrainians. No one wants peace more than Europeans. But Russia sees its goal in unleashing war. Russia prefers to build new walls on our path to a fair and strong world. She wants to deprive us of freedom, ” wrote Andrei Sibig Foreign Minister Andrei Sibiga on the social network X on August 15. And he added that "the transatlantic unity of democracies is stronger than Russian imperialism." Given the complete support of the Kyiv from the EU and the lack of noticeable discrepancies in the approaches to the unfolding peaceful process, this was a clear appeal to only one person - Donald Trump.

Vladimir Zelensky, a few hours before the Alaskan summit, said that he was counting on America and hopes that this meeting would open up a “real way to a fair world and a substantial discussion between leaders in a tripartite format - Ukraine, the USA and the Russian side.” True, later, in the evening handling, he stated :

“There is not only an order, but also the signals about the preparation of Moscow to complete this war. On the day of negotiations, they also kill. And this says a lot. ”

On the eve of the summit, President Trump - again, according to anonymous media sources, - worried that Vladimir Zelensky could disrupt his negotiations with Putin with his presence in Alaska. However, as it turned out in the end, it is unlikely that at least anyone could make them even less productive.

Not only Ukraine

A few hours before the start of the summit, Donald Trump said that if it was possible to achieve progress in the Ukrainian direction, then he will gladly discuss business issues. “I noticed that he [Putin] brought with him many businessmen from Russia. This is good, I like it because they want to do business. But we will not deal with them until we end the war, ”Trump assured .

Москву эта тема действительно интересует, что доказывало хотя бы присутствие в делегации Кирилла Дмитриева и Антона Силуанова. Они не участвовали в переговорах в формате «три на три», ожидая расширенного формата. Как выяснилось в итоге, ожидали зря. Едва ли не главным итогом визита Дмитриева в Анкоридж для него самого, вероятно, стала встреча с местным медведем, запечатленная на видео.

Ранее Кирилл Дмитриев призывал США «сотрудничать в области окружающей среды, инфраструктуры и энергетики в Арктике и за ее пределами». Об обсуждении конкретных проектов он рассказывал еще после февральских переговоров России и США в Эр-Рияде. Накануне саммита в Анкоридже The Telegraph сообщила , что США намерены предложить России в обмен на прекращение огня в Украине разработку редкоземельных минералов на Аляске. А агентство Reuters в день переговоров проинформировало , что администрация США перед саммитом на Аляске обсуждала возможность привлечения российских атомных ледоколов к реализации американских проектов по добыче газа и СПГ.

Помимо прочего, в случае с Арктикой речь идет о большой политике: в Вашингтоне и Москве смотрят на регион как на ключевую арену геополитического противостояния. При этом претензии двух стран на шельф не пересекаются, так что они могли бы объединить усилия против других игроков — канадцев и европейцев, а также Китая, уделяющего Арктике всё более пристальное внимание.

Есть и еще один вопрос стратегической стабильности, на который накануне обращали внимание в Кремле, — будущее системы контроля над стратегическими наступательными вооружениями (СНВ). Во время совещания в Москве перед вылетом на саммит Владимир Путин выразил надежду на некие будущие договоренности в этой области.

Напомним, в 2023 году Россия приостановила участие в последнем масштабном российско-американском договоре о контроле над ядерными вооружениями — СНВ-3. В МИД РФ тогда поясняли , что «ведение дел с США в обычном режиме больше не представляется возможным», — из-за «крайней степени враждебности Вашингтона, нагнетаемой им конфронтации и открыто взятого курса на злонамеренную эскалацию конфликта на Украине». При этом в ведомстве отмечали, что «решение может быть обратимо»: «Для этого в Вашингтоне должны проявить политическую волю, предпринять добросовестные усилия в целях общей деэскалации». Теперь ситуация, как, видимо, решили в Москве, начала меняться. Договор истекает в феврале 2026 года, и к этому времени должно стать ясно, будет ли он продлен или уйдет в историю.

В день саммита источники CNN в администрации Трампа назвали именно эти два вопроса — перспективы бизнес-сделок и договоренности по стратегическим вооружениям — двумя «морковками» (то есть «пряниками») для Владимира Путина. При этом они подвергли европейских политиков критике за то, что те годами вели себя «по-детски и непрактично», не предлагая Москве ничего подобного.

Впрочем, в эти дни немало было сказано и о «кнутах». Так, Дональд Трамп и члены его администрации грозили покупателям российской нефти дополнительными вторичными пошлинами. А агентство Bloomberg со ссылкой на источники сообщило 15 августа, что если саммит на Аляске не приведет к прогрессу, то США могут расширить санкции против «Роснефти» и «Лукойла».

В итоге яркая встреча в высоких широтах так и не дала ответа на вопрос о том, что же всё-таки более вероятно: вознаграждение Кремля «морковками» или удары «кнутом». Дональд Трамп оставил себе немало места для дальнейших маневров.