Russian President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States have held closed-door talks in Alaska. The meeting, which began with a brief conversation on the red carpet on the tarmac in Anchorage, lasted over three hours, TASS reports.
Putin and Trump made statements to the media after the talks. Putin suggested their next meeting be held in Moscow, and Trump said it was possible, even though he would have to face strong criticism.
TASS has gathered the key takeaways from what the Russian president said.
Russia-US relations
- The talks with Trump were useful and constructive: "Our talks took place in a trustful and constructive atmosphere and were quite substantive and useful."
- In recent years, Russia-US relations fell "to their lowest since the Cold War." "As you know, Russia and the US have not held summits for over four years, which is a long time. That wasn’t an easy period in bilateral relations, which, let’s face it, fell to their lowest since the Cold War, which benefits neither our countries nor the world in general."
- Russia-US trade started to grow under Trump, even though the growth rate is not high at this point. "Our trade started to grow after the new US administration came to power. So far, it’s merely symbolic, but it’s still a rise of 20%. I mean that we have a lot of promising areas for joint work."
- Russia and the US have a lot to offer each other in various areas of cooperation. "Russia-US business and investment cooperation clearly has a lot of potential. Russia and the US have a lot to offer each other in trade, the energy sector, the digital industry, high technology and space exploration. Arctic cooperation also looks relevant, as well as the resumption of interregional ties, particularly between Russia’s Far East and the US West Coast."
Ukraine settlement
- The agreements reached in Alaska "will be the starting point for resolving the Ukraine issue" and improving Russia-US relations.
- Russia has always seen the people of Ukraine as brotherly and the current developments as tragic and painful.
- Russia is interested in putting an end to the Ukraine crisis: "Our country is sincerely interested in ending it all."
- Russia is ready to work to ensure Ukraine’s security: "I agree with President Trump - he has spoken about it today - that Ukraine’s security also needs to be ensured. We are certainly ready to work on that."
- The understanding reached with Trump will pave the way for peace in Ukraine, the Russian leader hopes.
- The conflict in Ukraine would have never started had Donald Trump been the president of the United States in 2022. "I remember that during my last contact with the previous [US] administration in 2022, I tried to convince my then American counterpart that the situation should not be brought to the point of no return, where it would come to hostilities. And I said it quite directly back then that it's a big mistake. Today, when President Trump says that if he had been president, there would have been no war, I'm quite sure that's the way it would have been. I can confirm that."
- An end to the conflict in Ukraine is secured "the sooner the better."
On good-neighborly relations
- Holding a Russia-US summit in Alaska is logical because the two counties are neighbors: "It’s quite logical to meet here because our countries are close neighbors despite being separated by oceans."
- Russia is grateful to the US for its respect for the memory of the Soviet soldiers buried in Alaska. "Soviet pilots who died during their heroic mission (while flying aircraft from the US to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease Program - TASS) are buried in a military cemetery just a few kilometers from here. We are grateful to the US authorities and citizens for respecting their memory. This is noble and dignified behavior.
