Whether you’re Republican, Democrat or Independent, tomorrow’s high-stakes summit between President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is equally important to end the long and bloody conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Trump is expected in Anchorage, Alaska by mid-afternoon EST Friday. The initial meeting with Putin expected to take place at 3:30 p.m. with just the two leaders and translators and hopefully will produce an immediate cease-fire and a follow-up meeting including Urkraine President Volodymyr Zelinskyy.
Trump and Putin with hold a lunch with members of delegations from both countries. My guess is Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ambassador Douglas Dykhouse will join Trump in our 49th state. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters the Russian delegation will include himself, Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Putin’s longtime friend and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
The Russian state news agency TASS reported Trump and Putin would hold a press conference together at the conclusion of Friday’s meeting. Karoline Leavitt confirmed that was the “plan.” The last time Trump and Putin met in-person was in Helsinki, Finland, in 2018 during Trump’s first term. That meeting was met with huge controversy in the U.S. when Trump appeared to side with Putin — and against U.S. intelligence — in accepting Putin denying involvement in 2016 election.
Hopefully without selling out Ukraine, Trump will be as successful as former U.S. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt who won Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating an end to Russo-Japanese War in 1905, FDR for his alliance with Joseph Stalin of Soviet Union to defeat Nazi Germany in World War II and Ronald Reagan negotiating with Mikhail Gorbachev to end nuclear arms race and the Cold War which brought down the Iron Curtain over Eastern Europe.
All eyes and ears will be on Anchorage, Alaska tomorrow afternoon…
