The President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, are heading to Anchorage, Alaska, to hold their first face-to-face meeting since 2018, in a meeting marked by the prospect of opening peace negotiations on the war in Ukraine.
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Putin made a stop in Magadan, in the far east of Russia, before continuing on to Anchorage. According to Russian media, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, indicated that the president would take advantage of the stop to meet with local authorities and visit a factory.
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On the other hand, the Air Force One took off on Friday morning from Joint Base Andrews, near Washington, with Trump on board. Before departing, the president wrote on his Truth Social network: "High stakes!“.
Already on the flight, Trump declared to the press that he will discuss with Putin the territorial situation in Ukraine, although he insisted that any final agreement must be negotiated directly by Kiev. “I think they will make the right decision, but I am not here to negotiate for them. I am here to get them to sit at the table, and for that, two sides are needed,” he said.
The U.S. president stated that he attends the meeting with “powerful pressure tools,” including the threat of “very serious economic sanctions” if the talks do not meet his expectations. He also portrayed himself as a figure capable of halting Putin’s territorial ambitions: “If I weren’t president, he would have taken all of Ukraine.”
Trump pointed out that the so-called “territory exchange” - which would involve Russian recognition of the regions occupied since 2014 - will be discussed, but that the decision will be in the hands of Ukraine. He also confirmed that one of the key points will be the request of Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to obtain security guarantees to achieve a “just and lasting peace.”
In this regard, he mentioned that the deployment of a multinational force “with Europe and other countries” is being studied, but ruled out that it would be under the NATO umbrella. “There are things that will never happen, but as far as Europe is concerned, that possibility exists,” he pointed out.
The White House expects the meeting to start at 11:00 a.m. local time in Anchorage (5:00 p.m. Puerto Rico time). According to the Kremlin, a private meeting between both leaders will be held first, followed by an extended session with their respective delegations. Finally, a joint press conference is scheduled to conclude the meeting.