In an atmosphere full of symbolism, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. It is the first face to face between the leader of the Kremlin and an American president since, in 2021, Putin confronted Geneva with Joe Biden.
The US president welcomed Putin just got out of the Russian presidential plane, on a red carpet set up for the occasion. Trump, smiling, applauded the Russian leader and turned him a thumb raised as a sign of greeting. Putin replied with a warm smile, before tightening his hand to his counterpart in a narrow immortalized by the photographers present.
Immediately afterwards, the two leaders went up together on a limousine waiting on the track. Taken by the cameras, Trump and Putin appeared relaxed and smiling, exchanging jokes during the journey. Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are joined by two councilors each in their first meeting. The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the special correspondent Steve Witkoff are present. Russian Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov and Putin’s councilor for foreign policy, Yuri Ushakov.
EU ambassadors will meet at 9.30 to discuss the outcome of the summit and to take stock of commercial relations between the EU and the USA and on the dossier duty.