US President Donald Trump (R) and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin communicate throughout their assembly on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7, 2017
Mikhail Klimentiev | AFP | Getty Images
As Russian President Vladimir Putin holds face-to-face talks with White House chief Donald Trump on Friday, Ukraine — and the world — might be watching with baited breath.
The state leaders are set to start their summit at 11:30 a.m. native time (3.30 p.m. ET) at the Elmendorf Richardson navy base in Anchorage, Alaska.
There will then be a working lunch for each delegations, earlier than the presidents maintain a joint press convention to summarize their talks.
The presser will undoubtedly be one in all the most carefully watched occasions of this 12 months, revealing simply how close to — or far — is the finish of the warfare in Ukraine that has spanned greater than three and a half years.
“Trump wants to exhaust all options to have a peaceful end to war,” the White House acknowledged on the eve of the Alaska summit.
It stays to be seen whether or not these “options” will finally be good or unhealthy for Ukraine.
Not solely is a ceasefire at stake — if Trump can persuade Putin to agree to one — however so are Ukraine’s territorial integrity, Europe’s safety, Russia’s financial system and geopolitical alliances.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has a checkered relationship with Trump and was not invited to the Friday occasion, might be nervous as the talks get underway.
Both he and his European allies worry the U.S. chief might capitulate to skilled negotiator Putin’s likely demands for Moscow to retain occupied Ukrainian territory and lower brief Ukraine’s NATO membership aspirations, in return for halting its navy offensive.
What’s the schedule?
Moscow has launched extra particulars about the summit than the White House, which solely this week confirmed that the presidents’ talks can be a “one-on-one” assembly.
The Kremlin echoed that view, stating that Trump and Putin will meet “in a tete-a-tete format” behind closed doorways with translators in tow, “naturally,” in accordance to Putin’s aide on international affairs, Yuri Ushakov.
“Considering that very important topics of a sensitive nature will be discussed, the list of participants in the negotiations is not big,” Ushakov added, in feedback translated by NBC News.
Russia’s delegation consists of only some members of Putin’s internal circle, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s funding and commerce envoy, as properly as Ushakov.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appears to be like on, subsequent to Russian President Vladimir Putin, as they look ahead to the US-Russia summit at the Villa La Grange, in Geneva on June 16, 2021.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
The presidential aide commented that “it is obvious to everyone that the central topic will be the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” together with the “broader tasks of ensuring peace and security,” as properly as urgent worldwide and regional points.
Signaling that Russia might be wanting to extol the financial advantages of a rapprochement with the U.S., Ushakov added that “an exchange of views is expected regarding the further development of bilateral cooperation, including in the trade and economic area,” noting that “this cooperation has enormous and, unfortunately, untapped potential.”