Latest news with #ALASKA2025
The Hill
a day ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Behind the scenes of Trump's historic summit with Putin
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska – When a door swung open to the small room where President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin were holding an historic sit-down meeting, I had barely caught my breath. I had just run from a van about 100 yards away to the building where Trump and Putin were set to hold high stakes talks on the war in Ukraine. White House staff urged us to hurry into the room because Trump and Putin were already inside. Indeed, it was a madhouse as the American and Russian press jockeyed for photos and shouted questions that would go unanswered. 'Thank you very much, everybody,' Trump said, signaling he was ready for the press to leave. I flew aboard Air Force One as part of the group of reporters, known as the traveling press pool, who document the president's movements for those who can't be with him on such trips. The day began around 6 a.m. Friday and ended just after 3 a.m. early Saturday morning with the president essentially making a day trip to the Last Frontier state. I witnessed the carefully choreographed greeting between the two leaders. I was in the room for the frenetic opening moments of their sit-down summit, and I watched as members of the press were stunned to see Trump and Putin walk off stage without taking a single question at what was billed as a joint press conference. The entire trip had an unpredictable pace to it, which can often be the case when part of the travel pool. Long stretches of waiting for a presidential movement are punctuated by rapid developments that force reporters to be at the ready on a moment's notice. I have traveled with Trump several times before, but no trip was as consequential as Friday's summit in Alaska. Witnessing the meeting with Putin first-hand revealed and reinforced certain characteristics about who Trump is as a leader. Trump at his core is a showman, and that was on full display during Friday's summit. Upon exiting Air Force One in Anchorage, I watched as officials unfurled a literal red carpet so that it rolled right up to where Putin would step off his plane. I saw staff put the finishing touches on 'ALASKA 2025' block letters that would serve as the foreground of an initial photo op for Trump and Putin. And my ears rattled as the roar of a B-2 bomber and other military aircraft flew overhead as Trump and Putin stepped onto a riser, part of an elaborate bit of planning from the White House intended to create maximum dramatic effect. The mere act of hosting Putin on U.S. soil was something of a made for TV moment. The coverage was breathless, critics suggested the event's existence was a win for Putin, and European leaders held out hope that Trump could make headway in bringing an end to the fighting that started in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. It was notable to watch Putin face questions from U.S. reporters about whether he would stop killing civilians. He reacted with a shrug. There were indications on the ground that Friday's meeting did not go entirely as planned. Trump and Putin rode together in the presidential limousine for the short drive from the tarmac to the meeting site. A U.S. official confirmed to me that no interpreter or other staff were present for the brief trip, and photos and video footage captured Putin laughing in the backseat. A planned one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin turned into a three-on-three meeting, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff joining Trump for what ended up being a roughly three-hour discussion. While that played out, American reporters and Russian reporters gathered in the same media tent, divided by a rope line to keep the two sides mostly separate. Unless of course you needed a bathroom, then all reporters used a row of port-a-potties that had been set up outside.) Plans for an expanded bilateral meeting with a wider delegation of officials never materialized. Instead, we were rushed into an auditorium for a planned joint press conference right after the summit, somehow ahead of schedule. The press conference turned out to be a 12-minute appearance by the two leaders in which they each gave remarks: First Putin, then Trump, an unusual maneuver considering the U.S. was the host country. Putin used a lot of his time speaking about Russian history and then flattered Trump with comments about how he would not have invaded Ukraine if it were Trump in office in 2022, and not former President Biden. He gave no indication as to why he thought that. And Trump would not answer follow-up questions about why Putin agreed with him on that notion in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity that aired after the press conference. Trump only spoke for three minutes, offering few specifics about what, if anything, had been agreed upon at Friday's summit. The abrupt ending to the press conference left many reporters wondering whether Trump was frustrated by the summit. The Hannity interview before departing Alaska only added to those questions. On the way to Alaska, Trump came to the back of the plane to speak to reporters roughly 20 minutes after taking off for the seven hour flight from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. He fielded questions ahead of his summit with Putin about what he was expecting. But the typically talkative Trump was apparently no longer interested in taking questions once he arrived in Alaska. He did not respond to questions shouted by this reporter and others during various photo ops with Putin, nor did he take any questions at what had been billed as a joint press conference with the Russian leader. The president did not speak to the traveling pool during the roughly six-hour return flight to Washington, D.C., though we learned that he did speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European allies. Those calls set the stage for a Monday meeting in Washington with Zelensky, and perhaps for a future trilateral meeting involving Trump, Zelensky and Putin. As for where that meeting will take Trump and the traveling press pool, the president has suggested another trip to Alaska could be an option. On Friday, Putin had another idea.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
‘Welcome to ALASKA 2025': Trump rolls out red carpet, fighter jet for Putin
As the United States await his arrival for the high-stakes meeting, President Donald Trump is preparing to welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin on US soil, with an elaborate setup at Alaska's Elmendorf Air Base, which includes a red carpet, multiple fighter jets, and bold signage proclaiming "ALASKA 2025." The carpeting is lined on either side with fighter jets, parked at an angle.(X) The stage — or tarmac — is set for Trump-Putin arrival. An "Alaska 2025" sign and red carpet are ready on the base tarmac for the leaders' arrival. The carpeting is lined on either side with fighter jets, parked at an angle. Social media-viral visuals show how the stage is set up for Putin's grand arrival. It has been reported that the US military personnel and event staff worked in tandem to ensure that every detail — from the positioning of the jets to the alignment of the towering white letters — was flawless. Trump arrives in Alaska US President Donald Trump arrived in Alaska on Friday for his high-stakes summit with his Russian counterpart, Putin, after saying he wants to see a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine "today." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was not invited to the talks, and his European allies fear Trump might sell out Ukraine by essentially freezing the conflict and recognising, if only informally, Russian control over one-fifth of Ukraine. Trump is expected to greet Putin upon the Russian leader's arrival. Then, the two presidents are due to meet at an air force base in Alaska's largest city at around 11 a.m. (1900 GMT) for their first face-to-face talks since Trump returned to the White House. Trump hopes a truce in the 3-1/2-year-old war - the deadliest in Europe since World War II - will bring peace to the region as well as bolster his credentials as a global peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev described the pre-summit mood as "combative" and said the two leaders would discuss not only Ukraine but the full spectrum of bilateral relations, Russia's RIA news agency reported.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Putin plane tracker: Where is Russian president and when will he meet Donald Trump? Latest here
President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, flew to Alaska on Friday for a summit that could determine the future of the war in Ukraine. Ahead of taking the flight, the former warned that if the Kremlin boss does not budge, the talks will not go ahead. Moscow, meanwhile, said that the two leaders will speak for at least six or seven hours. Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Magadan region's Governor Sergei Nosov (via REUTERS) Meanwhile, the FlightRadar 24 page showed over 150,000 people tracking a flight from Russia to Alaska. The flight was numbered RA-64531. While we cannot verify if Putin was in the aircraft, social media users said they were tracking the Russian president's journey. 'According to Flightradar, Vladimir Putin's plane has landed,and it was tracked by half a million people,' one person claimed on X, platform formerly known as Twitter. They also posted a screenshot of FlightRadar. Several others tweeted about Putin 'landing' in Alaska. But there was no evidence to back these reports. 'The plane has been the most TRACKED FLIGHT in the world on Flightradar24 - but it's very unlikely to be Vladimir Putin's plane,' another person wrote. Meanwhile, CNN published photos from the tarmac at Elmendorf Air Base, showing a red carpet laid out in an L-shape for Putin and Trump to walk down to a platform that's been labeled 'ALASKA 2025'. The red carpet has four F-22 Raptor fighter jets lined up alongside it, the media outlet reported. Putin is a 'smart guy' Ahead of the meeting, President Trump said he will be disappointed if Putin does not agree to a ceasefire. 'I want to see a ceasefire, rapidly. I don't know if it's going to be today, but I'm not going to be happy if it's not today,' he told reporters on Air Force One. 'Everyone said it can't be today, but I'm just saying I want the killing to stop. This is not to do with Europe. Europe's not telling me what to do. But they're going to be involved in the process, obviously, along with Zelensky.' 'Been doing it for a long time, but so have I. We get along. There's a good respect level on both sides.' When and where will Trump and Putin meet? Presidents Trump and Vladimir Putin are set to meet at 11:30 AM Alaska time (3:30 PM ET) at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war, as confirmed by recent White House and Kremlin announcements.
