The eyes of the world will be on Alaska tomorrow as US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin come face-to-face for a highly anticipated meeting.
The visit will mark the first time Putin has travelled to the US since his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 2015.
Ahead of the historic meeting, Trump holds hopes Putin will “make a deal” on the conflict in Ukraine but White House officials are managing expectations by downplaying the meeting as a “listening exercise”.
When is the Trump and Putin meeting?
Putin’s foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov has told reporters the world leaders would meet at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson military site in Anchorage, Alaska at 11.30am on Friday (local time).
This is 5.30am (AEST) on Saturday in Australia.
The leaders are expected to first have a one-on-one discussion with the help of interpreters.
Ushakov told reporters this would be followed by a business lunch.
He said the length of the discussions “will depend on the presidents”.
“Following the talks, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will hold a joint press conference, in which they will sum up the results of the negotiations,” Ushakov told reporters.
Trump said he could give solo remarks if the meeting “doesn’t end well”.
What are they discussing?
The world leaders are expected to discuss the settlement of the war in Ukraine.
We can also expect Trump and Putin to talk about potential economic cooperation between Russia and the US.
In the lead-up to the meeting, Trump has threatened Russia with “very severe consequences” if Putin doesn’t agree to end the war in Ukraine.
However, when reporters asked if this meant new sanctions or tariffs, he simply said: “I don’t have to say.”
Trump has previously threatened Moscow with new sanctions as a punishment for the Ukraine war but has not followed through on the threats to date.
Before his journey to the US, Putin said the current US administration had made “energetic and sincere efforts” to stop the conflict in Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Trump indicated there could be some “land swapping” to end the war but this was a move both the Ukraine and Russia have rejected.
Why isn’t Zelenskyy there?
Trump suggested his goal was to move toward a trilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shortly after the summit if discussions went well.
A Ukrainian source has told CNN it would not be logistically feasible for Zelenskyy to meet with the US President and Russian president in Alaska immediately after their talks.
“Remember that every international trip out of Kyiv starts with a 12-hour train journey. Getting to Alaska would take nearly two days,” the source told the news outlet.
However, the Ukrainian source said “if a trilateral meeting is to be held, Ukraine would want Russia to agree to a ceasefire as a first step”, before any talks could happen.
They added Trump is expected to call Zelenskyy to debrief him on the outcome of the Alaska summit and discuss future steps.