Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the Trump administration’s “energy” efforts to stop the war in Ukraine, hinting that Moscow and Washington could attack nuclear weapons control trades during a summit in Alaska on Friday.
In his first public comments since US President Donald Trump announced the Alaska Summit, Putin chaired a meeting of senior Russian officials in the Kremlin on Thursday, explaining to them during negotiations with the US in Ukraine.
“The current American administration, in my opinion, is making a very energetic and sincere effort to stop hostility, stop the crisis and reach an interesting agreement for all involved in this conflict,” Putin said.
In his brief remarks, Putin said the summit with the US “is aiming to create long-term conditions for peace in our country, Europe and throughout the world.”
He suggested that this wider peace could be achieved in the “next phase” of his discussion with the US if he “reached an agreement in the field of strategic offensive weapons control.”
It was not clear what contracts Putin was referring to, but most strategic weapons treaties between the US and Russia cover nuclear weapons, or nuclear-responding missile systems.
The US and Russia have agreed to limit the arsenal of nuclear weapons under the new initiation treaty that came into effect in 2011. Under the agreement, the two countries were in the seven years to meet defined limits on the number of nuclear weapons in the intercontinental range deployed. However, the treaty is expected to expire in February 2026.
In a sign of uncertainty between the two countries, Trump said he ordered two nuclear submarines to be strategically placed near Russia this month in response to what he said was a “very provocative” statement by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.
Medvedev is prone to volatile explosions on social media, and often elevating the ghosts of nuclear conflicts, but Trump said he made the decision “just in case these stupid, inflammatory statements are more than that.”
Trump said Thursday that Putin believes he is “into make a deal” to end the war in Ukraine during talks.
“Now he believes he’s sure he’s going to do the deal. He’s going to do the deal. I think he’s going,” the US leader appeared on Fox Radio’s “Brian Killmead Show.”
Trump suggests that the goal is to move towards a second meeting with Ukrainian President Voldimir Zelensky. There are “3 different locations” at the table. Trump told Fox Radio that he could “stay in Alaska.”
The second meeting aimed at setting up Friday’s talks will be “a more important meeting,” Trump said in his oval office later Thursday. “We’re going to hold a meeting with President Putin, President Zelensky, myself. We’ll probably bring in some of our European leaders, but that’s not,” he said.
Also on Thursday, Putin’s foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov shared details on the plans for Friday’s summit, saying that the president will have a one-on-one conversation first and with the help of an interpreter, before continuing his business lunch.
The aide said the talks will focus on the war in Ukraine and the prospects for Russia-US cooperation on trade and economic issues. He said the president will hold a joint press conference after the talks.
But Trump told Fox Radio’s Brian Kilmeade that he could decide to hold a solo press conference if the meeting “isn’t finished well.”
“I’m going to have a press conference. I don’t know if it’s going to be a joint or not. We’re not discussing that either. I think it’s good to have a joint and then separate it from it,” he said.
Ushakov will become one of five members of the Russian negotiation team, along with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrei Belusov, Finance Minister Anton Silanov and senior negotiator of the Russian Sovereign Wealth Fund, Kiril Dmitriev.
Ukraine and Europe were not invited to Friday’s summit, raising fears that Kiev could be forced to make unwanted concessions.
He was eager to get one last time Trump’s ears before he sat one-on-one with Putin.
The Europeans carefully threw bright notes after the meeting. Trump was sympathetic to the call for an immediate ceasefire, claiming that Ukraine should have a seat at the table in future negotiations.
