From admiration to Alaska: A timeline of Trump and Putin's high-stakes encounters

Fox News

3 days ago

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet in person on Friday for the first time in six years when they get together in Anchorage, Alaska.
Here is a history of Trump's high-stakes interactions with Putin while being President of the United States:
Mutual admiration was publicly brewing between Putin and Trump in late 2015 when Trump was running for his first term in office.
In December that year, Putin described Trump as being the "absolute leader in the presidential race" and a "very outstanding person, talented, without any doubt."
Trump later told supporters at a rally in Ohio that "It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond."
"I have always felt that Russia and the United States should be able to work well with each other towards defeating terrorism and restoring world peace, not to mention trade and all of the other benefits derived from mutual respect," Trump added, according to The Hill.
Trump and Putin held their first in-person meeting on July 7, 2017, at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany.
The sit-down lasted for more than two hours, during which Trump "pressed Russia's Vladimir Putin on U.S. election meddling while also making headway on the Syria crisis," according to a Fox News Digital report at the time.
Then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump and Putin "connected very quickly" and had "positive chemistry."
Trump and Putin were captured on camera shaking hands months later during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Da Nang, Vietnam on Nov. 10, 2017.
White House officials said at the time they would not have a formal meeting there due to scheduling issues, The Washington Post reported.
Trump and Putin met again formally on July 16, 2018, at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland.
In an interview following the meeting, Putin told Fox News that he and Trump discussed Iran's nuclear program and the "situation with North Korea."
He also said Trump informed him that his posture is "Crimea is part of Ukraine."
Trump told reporters on June 29, 2019, that he and Putin had a "tremendous discussion" at the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan.
"I think they'd like to do trade with the United States. And they have great product. They have great land. They have very rich land. And a lot of oil, a lot of minerals, and the kind of things that we like," Trump said at the time. "And I can see trade going out with Russia. We could do fantastically well. We do very little trade with Russia, which is ridiculous, frankly. So I could see some very positive things happening."
Trump also told his counterpart not to "meddle" in the 2020 elections when pressed by a reporter, Fox News Digital wrote at the time.
Trump, who was seated next to Putin, was asked by a reporter if he would tell "the Russian president to not meddle in the election." Trump, without looking at Putin, responded, "Of course I will. Don't meddle in the election, president. Don't meddle in the election."
Trump and Putin held numerous phone calls this year in the lead-up to Friday's meeting in Alaska.
Calls took place in February, March, May and June.
Trump said after his call in May that "Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War."
Trump and Putin are meeting Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, for the first time in years.
The high-stakes meeting is the first U.S.-Russia summit since June 2021, which was under former President Joe Biden's administration. That summit came just eight months before Putin invaded Ukraine.
Trump has described the talks as a "feel-out meeting," and has made clear that his top priority will be to determine whether a ceasefire in Ukraine is possible. Trump predicted earlier this week that he would be able to make that determination within the first "two minutes."