Trump and Putin to Hold Alaska Meeting Amid Land Swap Speculation
President Donald Trump of the United States has confirmed that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska to talk about efforts to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine. However, Trump added, any peace agreement would entail “some swapping” of territory, which is a contentious idea.
“We are scheduled to meet with Russia. As he welcomed leaders from Armenia and Azerbaijan to the White House on Friday, he declared, “We’ll start off with Russia.”
In his months-long attempt to broker an agreement to stop Russia’s incursion, Trump provided few information about what, if anything, had changed. However, he implied that any breakthrough would necessitate a territorial exchange.
It’s really intricate. However, some will be returned, and some will be exchanged. To the benefit of both, there will be some territory exchange, but we’ll discuss it later or tomorrow,” he stated.
Any deal that would give Russia control over seized territory, such as Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia, has long been opposed by Ukraine and its European allies.
However, Putin has stated time and time again that any agreement must include Ukraine giving up part of the areas that Russia has taken from Ukraine since 2014
He has also demanded that Kyiv’s attempts to join the NATO military alliance be stopped, as well as a halt to Western aid for Ukraine.
Trump said in a Truth Social post on Friday that he would welcome Putin to Alaska, the northernmost state in the US, while the Kremlin has earlier hinted at the prospect of meeting in the United Arab Emirates, another non-member.
Across the Bering Strait, the state’s landmass lies roughly 88 kilometers (55 miles) from Russia, with some tiny islands even closer.
The news was made on Friday, the same day President Trump set a deadline for Russia to establish a truce without signing a new deal.
Trump had become more and more irate with Russia in recent weeks due to the nation’s persistent attacks on Ukraine and its seeming resistance to reaching a compromise.
The two leaders are expected to meet for the first time since Trump’s first term in 2019, on August 15.
“Excellent progress”
Trump appeared to embrace Putin for a large portion of his stay in the White House, defying decades of diplomatic practice.
For example, Trump seemed to favor Putin over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this year. He also said that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was sparked by Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO.
At one point in a heated conversation with Zelensky aired from the White House in February, Trump exclaimed, “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me.”
However, Trump has made a point of portraying himself as a “peacemaker,” and his failure to end the war in Ukraine has caused animosity between him and Putin.
At the same time, he adopted a lenient stance toward Putin at first, but in light of Russia’s ongoing attacks, he has lately voiced increasing annoyance with the Russian leader.
Trump condemned Russia’s fresh assaults on Kyiv last week. “I find what they’re doing to be repulsive. It’s horrible, in my opinion,” he remarked. Additionally, he threatened to impose new sanctions and secondary tariffs on important trading partners unless Russia halted its attacks.
Source: Al Jazeera and other media outlets
