Latest news with #JointBaseElmendorfRichardson
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Vladimir Putin's surprising lunch menu for meeting with Donald Trump is revealed - despite never getting a chance to eat it after cutting talks short
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin were due to dine on halibut and steak in Alaska before their lunch was cancelled, sensitive documents revealed today. The US President and Russian leader held crunch talks at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage on Friday and were expected to eat together. The menu - revealed among papers relating to the summit found in a hotel printer - shows they would have had a starter of 'green salad with champagne vinaigrette'. The main course was a 'duet of filet mignon with brady peppercorn sauce and halibut Olympia served with buttery whipped potatoes and roasted asparagus'. But the summit ended early and the lunch at the US military base - which would have concluded with a dessert of 'crème brûlée' - never took place. The document found at Hotel Captain Cook also stated that the meal was 'in honour of His Excellency Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation'. Halibut Olympia is a local dish where halibut fillets are smothered in a creamy sauce then topped with buttery breadcrumbs on top of a base of caramelised onions. Sensitive documents revealed Mr Trump and Mr Putin were due to dine on halibut and steak Jeremy Pataky, an editor of Edible Alaska magazine, told the New York Times: 'It has the vibe of being homey and comforting and mildly retro, but palatable. 'I would not characterise it as haute cuisine. To see that on the menu for an extremely high-level state dinner felt a bit surprising.' He added: 'In our culinary Venn diagram of what's possible to harvest at sea between Alaska and Russia, I mean certainly we have halibut, so there's that.' President Trump's chief of protocol has been facing questions after the menu was among sensitive documents relating to the Russia-US summit that were discovered. Monica Crowley, who was in charge of creating the programme for Russian leader Vladimir Putin's visit, was left red-faced after eight pages including precise locations, meeting times and private phone numbers of government employees were found. The documents also told US officials how to pronounce their Russian counterparts' names, including, 'Mr President POO-tihn'. Hotel Captain Cook is 20 minutes from the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, where the historic meeting took place. The documents told US officials how to pronounce names, including, 'Mr President POO-tihn' Ms Crowley, 56, is a former Fox news presenter who is said to be 'extremely close' to Mr Trump and his wife Melania. She was photographed on Friday warmly greeting President Putin when he arrived at the military base and again at the airport as he prepared to fly home to Russia. The documents were given to US public broadcaster NPR which has seen its funding slashed by Mr Trump. The broadcaster claimed the papers were found in a printer on Friday morning by three hotel guests. Jon Michaels, a professor of law at UCLA and national security expert, said that the documents revealed 'a lapse in professional judgement'. He said: 'It strikes me as further evidence of the sloppiness and the incompetence of the administration. You just don't leave things in printers. It's that simple.' But White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly dismissed the papers as 'a multi-page lunch menu' and claimed that no security breach had occurred. She told the Daily Mail: 'It's hilarious that NPR is publishing a multi-page lunch menu and calling it a 'security breach'. 'This type of self-proclaimed 'investigative journalism' is why no one takes them seriously and they are no longer taxpayer-funded thanks to President Trump.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Key takeaways from the Trump-Putin summit
The much-anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin began with a warm welcome and a flyover by screaming jets at a U.S. military base in Alaska but ended with a thud Friday after they conceded that they had failed to reach any agreements on how to end the Russia-Ukraine war. After about 2 1/2 hours of talks at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, the two men appeared before reporters for what had been billed as a joint news conference — but they took no questions. 'We had an extremely productive meeting and many points were agreed to, there are just a very few that are left,' Trump said. 'We didn't get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.' Putin, welcomed into the U.S. after being shunned by Western allies since early 2022 for ordering the invasion of Ukraine, thanked Trump for hosting the meeting and suggested with a chuckle that the next time the two sit down it could be in Moscow. Here are key takeaways from the summit: A warm welcome underscoring the friendly Trump-Putin relationship Putin got a red carpet welcome and even rode in Trump's presidential limousine from the tarmac to the summit venue. There, the pair were joined by two of their top aides: Secretary of State and national security adviser Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff for Trump and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and national security adviser Yuri Ushakov for Putin. Putin, who spoke first after the meeting concluded, lauded the historical relationship between the United States, Russia and the former Soviet Union, recalling joint missions conducted by the two countries during World War II. He said the U.S. and Russia share values, a standard talking point for Russian officials when trying to woo Trump and his aides. Putin also noted that Trump has frequently said the Ukraine war wouldn't have happened had he won the 2020 election. 'I think that would have been the case,' the Russian leader said, a comment sure to please Trump. However, there is no indication and no way to prove that Moscow would have acted differently toward Ukraine had Democrat Joe Biden not been elected. Trump touts progress but concedes there was no deal Trump had gone into the meeting hoping to get Putin to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine — or at least a commitment from Russia to enter into negotiations to reach one. Instead, Trump conceded that 'we haven't quite got there' and said he would be conferring with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO leaders about next steps. Trump said he and Putin had made some significant progress toward the goal of ending the conflict but gave no details on what that entailed and had to acknowledge that they had been unable to bridge substantial gaps. 'I believe we had a very productive meeting,' Trump said. 'We haven't quite got there, but we've made some headway. So, there's no deal until there's a deal.' In a subsequent conversation with Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel, Trump again offered no details on his discussions with Putin. With diplomatic progress creeping along, time is on Putin's side Amid drawn-out diplomatic moves to end the war, time is appears to be on Putin's side. That gives a leg up to Russian forces, who have used their larger numbers to slowly grind down defenses in eastern Ukraine 3 1/2 years into the conflict. Putin got a pleasant reception from the leader of the free world on U.S. soil and walked away hours later without either providing details on what they discussed, whether a ceasefire was any closer to reality or what the next steps would be. Putin praised Trump for the 'friendly' tone of the talks — Trump said nothing publicly about the killing of Ukrainian civilians in Moscow's attacks — and for 'understanding that Russia has its own national interests.' Putin said Moscow and Washington should 'turn the page,' with relations having sunk to the lowest point since the Cold War. Putin appearing in the U.S. for the first time in 10 years was celebrated as a sign that Moscow was no longer a pariah on the global stage. In a social media post, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told followers that the Western press would be on the verge of 'losing their minds.' 'For three years, they talked about Russia's isolation, and today they saw the red carpet being rolled out to greet the Russian president in the United States,' she said. There were no details and no questions Both men said the talks were 'productive' but the lack of any announcement of solid achievements was revealing. The news conference ended up being less than 15 minutes of rather standard diplomatic comments — and gave no indication that any concrete results were achieved — and offered little departure from their previous comments on the war in Ukraine. Trump has made it a feature of his second term to parry questions from reporters in front of world leaders, but in the clearest sign of his disappointment, the president abruptly cut short his plans to take questions. Trump had gone into the summit saying here was a 25% chance that the summit would fail and that it was meant to be a 'feel-out meeting,' but he had also floated the idea of bringing Zelenskyy to Alaska for a subsequent, three-way meeting if things went well. It's unclear what comes next. Associated Press writers Katie Marie Davies, Dasha Litvinova and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
B-2, fighter jets fly over as Trump-Putin summit begins
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin kicked off their Alaska summit with a warm handshake on Friday, greeting each other like old friends before heading into hours of discussions that could reshape the war in Ukraine and relations between Moscow and Washington. After descending from Air Force One, Trump applauded as Putin approached along a red carpet. They gripped hands for an extended period of time, with both men smiling, and Putin eventually grinned and pointed skyward, where B-2s and F-22s — military aircraft designed to oppose Russia during the Cold War — flew overhead to mark the moment at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Reporters nearby yelled, 'President Putin, will you stop killing civilians?' and Russia's leader put his hand up to his ear but didn't answer. Trump and Putin then both climbed in the U.S. presidential limo, with Putin grinning widely as the vehicle rolled past the cameras. The pair's chumminess, while not altogether surprising considering their longtime friendly relationship, was striking given the bloodshed and suffering in the war Putin started in Ukraine — the biggest land war in Europe since World War II. It was likely to raise concerns from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, who fear that Trump will primarily focus on furthering U.S. interests and fail to press hard for Ukraine's. Zelenskyy and European leaders were excluded from Friday's meeting, and Ukraine's president was left posting a video address in which he expressed his hope for a 'strong position from the U.S.' 'Everyone wants an honest end to the war. Ukraine is ready to work as productively as possible to end the war,' he said, later adding, 'The war continues and it continues precisely because there is no order, nor any signals from Moscow, that it is preparing to end this war.' The summit was a chance for Trump to prove he's a master dealmaker and peacemaker. He and his allies have cast him as a heavyweight negotiator who can find a way to bring the slaughter to a close — something he used to boast he could do quickly. For Putin, it was an opportunity to try to negotiate a deal that would cement Russia's gains, block Kyiv's bid to join the NATO military alliance and eventually pull Ukraine back into Moscow's orbit. Not meeting one-on-one anymore White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the previously planned one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin was now a three-on-three discussion including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff. Putin was joined by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov. The change indicates that the White House is taking a more guarded approach than it did during a 2018 meeting in Helsinki, when Trump and Putin met privately just with their interpreters for two hours and where Trump shocked the world by siding with the Russian leader over U.S. intelligence officials on whether Russia meddled in the 2016 campaign. Trump and Putin began their discussions Friday by sitting with their aides in front of a blue backdrop printed with 'Alaska' and 'Pursuing Peace.' Putin and Trump are expected to hold a joint press conference at the end of the summit. Trump-Putin summit could decide the course of the Russia-Ukraine war There are significant risks for Trump. By bringing Putin onto U.S. soil — America bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for roughly 2 cents per acre — the president is giving him the validation he desires after his ostracization following his invasion of Ukraine 3 1/2 years ago. Zelenskyy's exclusion is a heavy blow to the West's policy of 'nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine' and invites the possibility that Trump could agree to a deal that Ukraine does not want. Any success is far from assured since Russia and Ukraine remain far apart in their demands for peace. Putin has long resisted any temporary ceasefire, linking it to a halt in Western arms supplies and a freeze on Ukraine's mobilization efforts, which are conditions rejected by Kyiv and its Western allies. Trump said earlier in the week there was a 25% chance that the summit would fail, but he also floated the idea that if the meeting succeeds he could bring Zelenskyy to Alaska for a subsequent meeting with himself and Putin. Trump has also expressed doubts about getting an immediate ceasefire, but he has wanted a broad peace deal done quickly. That seemingly echoes Putin's longtime argument that Russia favors a comprehensive deal to end the fighting, reflecting its demands, and not a temporary halt to hostilities. Trump has offered shifting explanations for his meeting goals Trump previously characterized the sit-down as ''really a feel-out meeting.' But he's also warned of 'very severe consequences' for Russia if Putin doesn't agree to end the war. Trump said before arriving in Alaska that his talks with Putin will include Russian demands that Ukraine cede territory as part of a peace deal. He said Ukraine has to decide, but he also suggested Zelenskyy should accept concessions. 'I've got to let Ukraine make that decision. And I think they'll make a proper decision,' Trump told reporters traveling with him to Alaska. Trump said there's 'a possibility' of the United States offering Ukraine security guarantees alongside European powers, 'but not in the form of NATO.' Putin has fiercely resisted Ukraine joining the trans-Atlantic security alliance, a long-term goal for Ukrainians seeking to forge stronger ties with the West. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO's supreme allied commander Europe, is in Alaska to provide 'military advice' to Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to a senior NATO military official who wasn't authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. His presence is likely to be welcomed by European leaders who have tried to convince Trump to be firm with Putin and not deal over Kyiv's head. Potentially far-reaching implications Foreign governments are watching closely to see how Trump reacts to Putin, likely gauging what the interaction might mean for their own dealings with the U.S. president, who has eschewed traditional diplomacy for his own transactional approach to relationships. The meeting comes as the war has caused heavy losses on both sides and drained resources. Ukraine has held on far longer than some initially expected since the February 2022 invasion, but it is straining to hold off Russia's much larger army, grappling with bombardments of its cities and fighting for every inch on the over 600-mile front line. Alaska is separated from Russia at its closest point by just 3 miles and the international date line. Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson was crucial to countering the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It continues to play a role today, as planes from the base still intercept Russian aircraft that regularly fly into U.S. airspace. Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Jonathan J. Cooper in Washington, Elise Morton in London and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump produced a made-for-TV summit - but Putin seemed to be the one pulling the strings
Donald Trump landed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson with the aspiration of departing a few hours later hailed as a peacemaker and a deal broker. Instead, he returns to Washington having let an international pariah back in from the cold and seemingly received precious little in return. If pitched up on the tarmac of many of the world's airports, he could, in theory, be immediately handcuffed. This, after all, is a man for alleged war crimes, including for the alleged abduction of Ukrainian children. Instead, the red carpet was, quite literally, rolled out for him in Anchorage.A flypast was arranged, featuring F-35 fighter jets, the very planes that are regularly scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft operating off the coast of Alaska. Various military members lined up to salute him. Then came the most surprising moment of all. Alongside , Putin climbed into the Beast, the US President's heavily armoured limousine. A dictator, who invaded a sovereign nation three and a half years ago and has been in isolation ever since, riding alongside the most powerful man in the world on a US military base. No wonder he was grinning in the back seat. In the news conference afterwards, Putin was invited to speak before Trump and talked of greeting him on arrival, referring to him as a "dear neighbour". You would be forgiven for thinking this was a summit on Putin's home turf and not the other way round. There was talk of an agreement, but no detail at all on what was agreed. There was no mention of any follow-up meeting with Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as had been promised. And, there was not a word on the issue at the heart of the matter: is the producer of his own presidency, and this summit was carefully choreographed, made for TV, even if it was thrown together at short notice. But it was Putin who seemed to be pulling the strings. Journalists shouted questions at him about whether he had underestimated Ukraine, and about the killing of civilians. But he threw a deaf ear. And in his presence, Trump - who loves to talk so much - kept schtum, too. Read more: There was a mismatch in their delegations, too. Putin was joined in the bilat by his grizzled and chiselled foreign secretary, Sergey Lavrov, a veteran of these events, and a wily negotiator. Trump sat alongside his old golfing pal Steve Witkoff, a real estate agent who is now Trump's peace envoy, trying to resolve the conflicts in Ukraine and in Gaza. Witkoff's repeated visits to Moscow in recent months led to this summit. Some were left wondering whether he had miscalculated how much Putin was willing to shift on his maximalist goals in Ukraine. Many foreign policy experts believe Witkoff is too naive for the job and this meeting won't have persuaded them Kremlin team, as ever, had done their homework. They know that Trump responds to flattery. And flatter him, Putin did. One of Trump's most consistent lines is that he would never have invaded Ukraine if Trump were president. Putin gave him a PR boost by suggesting that it was an accurate sentiment. He also, Trump says, agreed with him that he would have won the 2020 election. In the lead-up to the meeting, Trump promised "severe consequences" for Russia if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire. There is no suggestion that he did. Yet Trump appeared on Fox News and talked admiringly of him, claiming Putin "spoke very sincerely", with Trump saying he believed the Russian President genuinely had a desire to end the war in Ukraine. The fact that Putin started the war and continues his onslaught in Ukraine, seemingly overlooked. Trump applauded Putin on his arrival in Alaska and the Russian President must have been patting himself on the back on the way out.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Takeaways from the Trump-Putin meeting: No agreement, no questions but lots of pomp
WASHINGTON (AP) — The much-anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin began with a warm welcome and a flyover by screaming jets at a U.S. military base in Alaska but ended with a thud Friday after they conceded that they had failed to reach any agreements on how to end the Russia-Ukraine war. After about 2 1/2 hours of talks at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, the two men appeared before reporters for what had been billed as a joint news conference — but they took no questions. 'We had an extremely productive meeting and many points were agreed to, there are just a very few that are left,' Trump said. 'We didn't get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.' Putin, welcomed into the U.S. after being shunned by Western allies since early 2022 for ordering the invasion of Ukraine, thanked Trump for hosting the meeting and suggested with a chuckle that the next time the two sit down it could be in Moscow. Here are key takeaways from the summit: A warm welcome underscoring the friendly Trump-Putin relationship Putin got a red carpet welcome and even rode in Trump's presidential limousine from the tarmac to the summit venue. There, the pair were joined by two of their top aides: Secretary of State and national security adviser Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff for Trump and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and national security adviser Yuri Ushakov for Putin. Putin, who spoke first after the meeting concluded, lauded the historical relationship between the United States, Russia and the former Soviet Union, recalling joint missions conducted by the two countries during World War II. He said the U.S. and Russia share values, a standard talking point for Russian officials when trying to woo Trump and his aides. Putin also noted that Trump has frequently said the Ukraine war wouldn't have happened had he won the 2020 election. "I think that would have been the case," the Russian leader said, a comment sure to please Trump. However, there is no indication and no way to prove that Moscow would have acted differently toward Ukraine had Democrat Joe Biden not been elected. Trump touts progress but concedes there was no deal Trump had gone into the meeting hoping to get Putin to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine — or at least a commitment from Russia to enter into negotiations to reach one. Instead, Trump conceded that 'we haven't quite got there' and said he would be conferring with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO leaders about next steps. Trump said he and Putin had made some significant progress toward the goal of ending the conflict but gave no details on what that entailed and had to acknowledge that they had been unable to bridge substantial gaps. 'I believe we had a very productive meeting,' Trump said. 'We haven't quite got there, but we've made some headway. So, there's no deal until there's a deal.' In a subsequent conversation with Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel, Trump again offered no details on his discussions with Putin. With diplomatic progress creeping along, time is on Putin's side Amid drawn-out diplomatic moves to end the war, time is appears to be on Putin's side. That gives a leg up to Russian forces, who have used their larger numbers to slowly grind down defenses in eastern Ukraine 3 1/2 years into the conflict. Putin got a pleasant reception from the leader of the free world on U.S. soil and walked away hours later without either providing details on what they discussed, whether a ceasefire was any closer to reality or what the next steps would be. Putin praised Trump for the 'friendly' tone of the talks — Trump said nothing publicly about the killing of Ukrainian civilians in Moscow's attacks — and for 'understanding that Russia has its own national interests.' Putin said Moscow and Washington should 'turn the page,' with relations having sunk to the lowest point since the Cold War. Putin appearing in the U.S. for the first time in 10 years was celebrated as a sign that Moscow was no longer a pariah on the global stage. In a social media post, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told followers that the Western press would be on the verge of 'losing their minds.' 'For three years, they talked about Russia's isolation, and today they saw the red carpet being rolled out to greet the Russian president in the United States,' she said. There were no details and no questions Both men said the talks were 'productive' but the lack of any announcement of solid achievements was revealing. The news conference ended up being less than 15 minutes of rather standard diplomatic comments — and gave no indication that any concrete results were achieved — and offered little departure from their previous comments on the war in Ukraine. Trump has made it a feature of his second term to parry questions from reporters in front of world leaders, but in the clearest sign of his disappointment, the president abruptly cut short his plans to take questions. Trump had gone into the summit saying here was a 25% chance that the summit would fail and that it was meant to be a 'feel-out meeting,' but he had also floated the idea of bringing Zelenskyy to Alaska for a subsequent, three-way meeting if things went well. It's unclear what comes next. ___ Associated Press writers Katie Marie Davies, Dasha Litvinova and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
