American officials are rushing to finalize details ahead of Friday’s summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska, with both logistical and geopolitical issues still unsettled four days ahead of the momentous sit-down.
As of Monday, no venue for the summit had been announced. Administration officials were still making their way to Alaska — selected for its centrality to Washington and Moscow — to scope out where, exactly, the US and Russian presidents would meet.
Officials were also working to clarify the contours of the two men’s expected discussion, which Trump hopes can yield significant progress toward ending the war in Ukraine.
The uncertainty surrounding the summit as the week opened underscored the extraordinary moment Trump finds himself in seven months into his second term. After entering office hoping to leverage his relationship with Putin to end the Ukraine war, only to become disillusioned by the Russian leader’s duplicity, Trump is now embarking on the biggest test yet of his long-held faith in face-to-face diplomacy.
“Next Friday will be important, because it will be about testing Putin, how serious he is on bringing this terrible war to an end,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who has forged a close partnership with Trump, said Sunday on ABC.
