Putin welcomed back on world stage with red carpet

When Putin landed back onto the world stage on Friday, the skies in Alaska were cloudy. Waiting with a red carpet spread across the tarmac was US President Trump.

As Putin approached, Trump clapped. The two leaders warmly shook hands and smiled. It was a remarkable moment for Putin. His international travel has since his invasion in Ukraine in 2022 has been largely limited to nations friendly to the Russian Federation, such as North Korea and Belarus. In an unscripted moment, Putin decided to accept a lift to the airbase in Trump’s armoured limousine, ‘The Beast’, instead of driving in his own Moscow-plated presidential state car.

Vlad faced with questions he never gets asked

In his 25 years as president, Putin has achieved complete control over the media, crushing journalistic freedoms and replacing information with propaganda. Within Russia he doesn’t often come up against unfriendly reporters. Yet it was minutes after landing in Alaska a journalist shouted: “Will you stop killing civilians?” If the question both­ered him, he didn’t show it.

During a brief and somewhat chaotic photo op, questions were shouted, including one in Russian about if Putin would meet Zelenskyy for a trilateral summit. Again, there was no reaction.

What was said when talks ended earlier than expected The world’s media gathered in the room with Putin and Trump had been led to expect a press conference; instead, they gave statements and took no questions from reporters.

Unusually, Putin was the first to speak. He praised the “constructive atmosphere of mutual respect” of the “neighbourly” talks, and then launching into a condensed history of Alaska's past as a Russian territory.

As Putin spoke, Trump stood in silence. It was several minutes before the Russian president mentioned what he called the “situation in Ukr­aine” – ostensibly the catalyst for the summit. When he did, it was to state that although an unspecified “agreement” had been reached, the “root causes” of the conflict had to be eliminated before peace could be achieved.

no deal was clear 

When it was Trump’s turn to speak he did not mention Ukraine or the possibility of a ceasefire once. The closest he came to referencing the conflict was saying “5, 6, 7000 people a week” are killed and noting Putin too wanted to see an end to the bloodshed. “There were many, many points we agreed on,” Trump said, adding, “great progress” had been made in an “extre­mely productive meeting”.

No major agreements or a trilateral meet with Zelensky were announced. To Mos­cow’s relief, there was no mention of “severe consequ­e­nces” Trump threatened wou­ld follow if a ceasefire wasn’t reached. “We didn’t get there,” Trump admitted. Then, optimistically though vaguely, he added: “But we have a very good chance of getting there.”

'NEXT TIME IN MOSCOW': PUTIN MAKES RARE ASIDE IN ENGLISH

The summit may have failed to yield tangible progress towa­rds peace, it cemented the rapprochement between Rus­s­ia and the US. Pictures of the two presidents repeatedly shaking hands and grinning travelled far and wide on soci­al media – as did images of US servicemen kneeling as they rolled out the red carpet at the foot of Putin’s plane.

Putin referenced one of the US president’s frequent talking points – the conflict in Ukraine would have never started had Trump been in power. Despite Trump’s assertion of “great progress”, nothing of substance was unveiled at the Alaska summit – yet the two leaders left the door open for another meeting, this time on Russian soil. “I’ll probably see you again very soon,” Trump said.

Rounding off a joint statement where he had to make no promises, no concessions and no compromises, Putin may have felt at ease enough to break into English, a rare occurrence. Chuckling, he looked at Trump and said: “Next time in Moscow.” “Oh, that’s an interesting one,” Trump said. “I’ll get a little he­at on that one, but I – I could see it possibly happening.”