During the preceding photo op, neither Trump nor Putin made
public statements, and reporters were quickly escorted out of the meeting room.
Earlier, Putin’s plane landed at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, where Trump greeted him on the tarmac. The two leaders then left for the venue in the same car, with no interpreters present, The Washington Post noted.
The White House earlier said several senior U.S. officials would join Trump in Alaska, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. From the Russian side, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and presidential aide Yuri Ushakov would attend.
After the first meeting, the two delegations will hold an expanded working lunch. Participants are expected to include Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, White House Chief of Staff Suzi Wiles, and Witkoff.
Putin has not visited a Western country since June 2021, when he met President Joe Biden in Geneva amid a Russian military buildup near Ukraine’s border. His last trip to the United States was in 2015 for the UN General Assembly in New York.