AK Gov. Dunleavy: Trump Putin Summit will 'Set The Stage' for Peace

US President Donald Trump warned he would impose “very severe consequences” if Vladimir Putin didn’t agree to a ceasefire agreement later this week, following a call with European leaders ahead of his meeting with the Russian president.  Trump also said he hoped to use the Friday meeting to set up a “quick second meeting” with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy after allies pressed him to push for such a summit. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is hosting Zelenskiy in London on Thursday. Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy says the visit his state is prepared for the surge of guests and visitors associated with the meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin, which is happening at the height of the tourist season.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to strengthen his rapport with Donald Trump ahead of their summit, praising the US leader’s efforts to broker an end to the war in Ukraine and dangling the promise of economic cooperation as well as a new arms control treaty.

The charm offensive from Putin, before he arrives on US soil for a face-to-face sit-down on Friday with the American president, sought to minimize the war — Europe’s deadliest conflict in decades — as a mere detail on the way to revitalizing ties between Washington and Moscow.

Putin highlighted issues that are a focus for Trump, who envisions himself as the dealmaker-in-chief and wants to be known as a “peacemaker” even as the US president downplayed expectations that the summit will deliver on his pledge of bringing a swift end to Russia’s war.

Putin praised the US for making “quite energetic and sincere efforts” to stop the fighting in Ukraine at a Kremlin meeting Thursday with senior officials. And he added that he was willing to start work on a new arms control treaty, saying an agreement on the control of strategic offensive weapons can “create long-term conditions for peace between our countries and in Europe and in the world as a whole.”

Putin tried to press Trump during his first presidential term to agree to an arms deal but had little success. While Russia has been open to resuming nuclear talks with the US since last year, officials said in June that worsening relations with the US had led to fading chances for a new pact to replace the last such treaty with the US, which expires early next year.

Trump, though, has sought to dial back hopes for a breakthrough, stung in part by a meeting with Putin during his first term that was seen as an embarrassment for the US president. Trump at that gathering, standing alongside Putin, indicated that he believed the Russian leader’s claims that Moscow did not seek to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election — remarks which drew bipartisan ire in Washington.

That spectacle has loomed over the upcoming summit. And the announcement of the talks — without the participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy — left Kyiv’s allies alarmed. Those countries have expressed concern that the US president — who has said an eventual deal would include territorial exchanges — could unilaterally agree to peace terms proposed by Putin that would disadvantage Ukraine and undermine the continent’s security.

Trump has bristled at suggestions in recent days that Putin may have the upper hand in Friday’s talks.

“If I got Moscow and Leningrad free, as part of the deal with Russia, the Fake News would say that I made a bad deal!” Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday. The city of St. Petersburg was formerly known as Leningrad.

All week, Trump and senior officials have moved to temper expectations. Trump called the upcoming summit a “feel-out” meeting.

In an interview on the Brian Kilmeade Show on Thursday, Trump said he foresaw “a 25% chance” that his coming sit-down with Putin would “not be a successful meeting,” and again stressed that he saw it as a precursor to a second, more important gathering that could include Zelenskiy.

“This meeting sets up the second meeting. The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that’s going to be a meeting where they make a deal.

--------

Watch Bloomberg Radio LIVE on YouTube

Weekdays 7am-6pm ET

Follow us on X

Subscribe to our Podcasts:

Bloomberg Daybreak

Bloomberg Surveillance

Bloomberg Intelligence

Balance of Power

Bloomberg Businessweek

Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app:

Apple CarPlay

Android Auto

Visit our YouTube channels:

Bloomberg Podcasts

Bloomberg Television

Bloomberg Originals