By Janet Ekstract, NEW YORK – On August 15, Anchorage, Alaska was the venue for a face-to-face summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a joint press conference after initial meetings between the two leaders and also between their respective delegations. The joint press conference was opened by Putin who lauded the meeting as “constructive,” explaining that “it only makes sense that we met here because our countries are close neighbors.” Putin compared commonalities between the U.S. and Russia and said: “A personal meeting between heads of state has been long overdue.” Despite there being no mention of the Russia-Ukraine war, Putin did express a “need to eliminate the primary causes of that conflict,” adding “I agree with President Trump…..the security of Ukraine should be secured as well.” Meanwhile, Trump said: “We had an extremely productive meeting and many points were agreed to,” though he added “some points were not agreed to.” Trump said he planned to immediately call NATO and Ukrainian President Zelensky to report on the meetings. He praised Putin and Putin’s “entire team” – explaining “We’re going to stop thousands of people a week from being killed.” Neither Putin or Trump took questions from reporters and Putin’s tone was geared toward issues that included his statement: “We have a lot of dimensions for joint work.” Putin added there is “tremendous potential” for both countries to work together especially Putin said in “Artic cooperation.” Putin said he agreed that if Trump had been president, that there would have been no Russia-Ukraine war while Trump said “I’ve always had a great relationship with President Putin, Vladimir.” Trump said “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
Analysts and political pundits weighing in on the joint press conference, said it produced nothing significant and that the press were not informed about anything definite yet. It was pointed out that both leaders flattered one another but that nothing concrete was mentioned. Both Trump and Putin alluded to “agreements” being made without any details being revealed. It was expected that meetings between Putin and Trump would be at least seven hours in length but it appeared that the meetings ended early, analysts commented. Margaret Brennan, host of CBS News’s Face The Nation said “That’s why the idea of buying time matters,” referring to Putin’s goals. Meanwhile, Ambassador John Sulivan, a former ambassador to Russia from 2020 – 2022, told CBS News that Putin’s goal in meeting Trump is just a delay tactic to avoid sanctions. Political commentators pointed out that Putin has a track record of making public declarations that sound good but that his actions never match his rhetoric. Experts and observers have said that European leaders fear that Trump will be adversely affected by Putin’s praise and may end up leaving Ukraine out in the cold when it comes to support in any agreements between Russia and Ukraine going forward.
