Russia's reaction to US President Donald Trump's summit with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Alaska was truly joyful: Moscow is celebrating the fact that the Russian leader met with his American counterpart without concessions and now faces no sanctions, despite rejecting Trump's ceasefire demands, UNN reports, citing The Guardian.
"The meeting proved that negotiations are possible without preconditions," former president Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Telegram. He added that the summit showed that negotiations can continue while Russia wages war in Ukraine.
Trump went into the summit with high stakes, warning: "I will not be happy if I leave without some form of ceasefire," and threatening "serious consequences" if Moscow refused to cooperate.
But after a three-hour meeting with the Russian side that yielded no tangible results, Trump put aside his threats and instead insisted that the meeting was "extremely productive," even as Putin clung to his maximalist demands for an end to the war and announced no concessions on the battlefield, where Russian forces are consolidating key gains in eastern Ukraine.
Recall
Trump and Putin met at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.
They shook hands twice and drove in the same car to the summit venue.
During the handshake with US President Donald Trump, journalists asked Putin: "Mr. President Putin, will you stop killing civilians in Ukraine?"
To this, the Russian dictator pretended that he did not hear the question. He smiled, made a surprised face, and gestured that he either did not understand or did not hear what was being said to him.
The negotiations took place in a "three-on-three" format.
From the American side, in addition to Donald Trump, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US President's Special Representative Steve Witkoff were present. From the Russian side, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Putin's aide Ushakov.