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'Feel out... listening session' in Alaska: White House working overtime to get Trump-Putin meeting right
US President Donald Trump said on August 8, 2025 he would meet with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska, as the Republican billionaire hopes to help mediate an end to the war in Ukraine. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)
White House officials are pulling out all the stops to ensure that the upcoming meeting with President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, is a successful engagement as the Ukraine war drags on.
The high-stakes meeting between Trump and Putin, when the US president has been taking a tougher approach toward Moscow by approving the delivery of more US weapons to Ukraine and warning of tariffs on countries that purchase Russian oil.
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The struggle to find a venue
Meanwhile, White House officials are in Alaska to find a venue for the meeting, a task that has not yielded any success till now. The process of locking in a venue is especially difficult at a time when the tourist season is at its peak.
According to a report by CNN, organisers of the summit quickly concluded that Anchorage was the only city in the vast state with suitable options for hosting the event. Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, located on the city's northern edge, emerged as the only site that could meet the strict security requirements for the historic meeting. However, the White House had hoped to avoid the optics of receiving the Russian leader and his entourage at a US military installation.
The Russian foreign ministry this week said that US State Secretary Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks to discuss 'certain aspects of preparation.'
'The president feels like, 'look, I've got to look at this guy across the table. I need to see him face to face. I need to hear him one-on-one. I need to make an assessment by looking at him,'' Rubio said during an interview with Sid Rosenberg.
After extensive behind-the-scenes negotiations, the Trump administration and the Kremlin agreed on Alaska as the location for the summit, according to sources familiar with the discussions. Few venues were deemed suitable for the meeting, especially in light of the war crimes warrant issued for Putin's arrest by the International Criminal Court in 2023.
European leaders to hold talks
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz plans to hold talks with the US and Ukrainian presidents and European leaders on Wednesday, two days ahead of a US-Russia summit in Alaska, his office said.
Merz's office said Monday he would discuss the Ukraine war with leaders from 'Finland, France, the UK, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, the heads of the European Commission and Council, the secretary general of NATO, as well as the US president and his deputy'.
They would discuss 'further options to exert pressure on Russia' and the 'preparation of possible peace negotiations and related issues of territorial claims and security', the statement said.
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