No deal until there’s a deal: Results of the Putin–Trump Summit

President Trump was joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. Alongside President Putin were Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov. Interpreters from both sides were also present.

After the talks, Putin and Trump appeared before the press but did not take questions, delivering only brief statements on the outcome of the summit.

Results

Trump described the talks as “very productive” and said “tremendous progress” had been made on the Ukraine issue.

“There were many points that we agreed on. There are just a very few that are left… We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there,” he noted.

The U.S. president stressed it was still too early to speak of a deal:

“There’s no deal until there’s a deal. I will call up NATO in a little while. I’ll call up the various people that I think are appropriate, and I’ll, of course, call up President Zelenskyy and tell him about today’s meeting.”

Trump also said he was considering Putin’s invitation to visit Moscow.

Putin said he welcomed Trump to Alaska “as a neighbor” and expressed gratitude to the U.S. for its respectful treatment of the graves of Soviet soldiers buried in the state. He called it logical to hold the summit in Alaska, given that Russia and the U.S. are neighbors.

Relations between Russia and the United States have in recent years sunk to “the lowest point since the Cold War,” but Putin said he had established very good direct contacts with Trump.

He noted that the Ukraine situation was one of the central topics of the summit, adding that Russia is interested in an early end to the crisis and is ready to work on ensuring Ukraine’s security.

Putin noted that under the Trump administration, bilateral trade began to grow and that the two countries have potential for cooperation in areas ranging from technology to Arctic exploration.

According to the Russian ambassador in Washington, documents have been prepared to restore air links between Russia and the United States and discussions are ongoing. Ambassador Darchiev also said visas for the US delegation would be issued promptly if the next meeting takes place in Moscow.

Earlier, Kazinform News Agency reported that the U.S.-Russian summit had opened at Elmendorf Richardson military base in Anchorage.