In Anchorage, Alaska— At the end of their important meeting in Alaska, Russian President Vladimir Putin asked US President Donald Trump to come to Moscow for their next meeting. The invitation, given during a joint press conference, was a rare moment of diplomatic warmth after over three hours of talks about the crisis in Ukraine.
Putin said, “Next time in Moscow,” after Trump thanked him for the meeting. Trump’s response was both careful and open, as he added, “That is an interesting honor.” That one will get me in trouble. I can picture it happening. Thank you, gentlemen, and thank you everybody.
After four years, a conversation started again.
Putin talked about how important the meeting was earlier in the news conference. It was the first Russian-American summit in more than four years. He said that the time had been “very hard for bilateral relations” and that they had “slid to the lowest point since the Cold War.” Putin said that the two leaders needed to meet in person “overdue” to go from “confrontation to dialogue.”
Both leaders said the meeting at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson was “very productive.” But they were careful not to get people’s hopes up too high. Putin said that he and Trump had come to a “understanding” about Ukraine and told Europe not to “torpedo the nascent progress.”
In his own statement, Trump repeated his famous remark about negotiating: “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.” He said that while many topics were agreed upon, “a very few” were still not settled, and that “one is probably the most important.” Trump said he was hopeful that an agreement could be reached and that he would talk to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders to update them on the talks.
The invitation to Moscow and Trump’s open-ended response show that both parties are eager to keep talking, even though they haven’t reached a final, clear agreement on how to stop the war.