Vladimir Putin does not seem to be presented this Friday in Alaska with a territorial demand to Donald Trump for this territory, state number 49 of the Union that in 1867 Tsar Alejandro II sold to the United States in exchange for 7.2 million dollars (about 6.2 million euros). The president of Russia, however, will land this Friday in Alaska with another territorial agreement in mind: convince Trump of the convenience of giving parts of the Ukrainian territory in exchange for Moscow accepting the high fire that the US president wishes so desperately, but does not know how.
A “totally logical,” he said about the summit in Alaska Yuri Ushakov, the influential Foreign Affairs Advisor of Putin. As if the crossing of the Bering Strait that separates the two countries was a simple trip. It is true that between the United States and Russia there is only a separation of 88.5 kilometers by this point, but the flight from Moscow to Anchorage, the largest city of Alaska, has been about nine hours. For Trump the journey will be almost eight hours traveling at the Air Force One from Washington DC. Alaska is a location of mutual inconvenience, indicating that there are other factors at stake for your choice.
The remote state of Alaska is far from Ukraine and its European allies, which run the risk of being relegated to the background. Theoretically, Trump is willing to allow the assistance of Volodimir Zelenski, president of Ukraine, but does not seem likely that Putin will be shown equally hospitable. After all, the Russian president has achieved a private conversation with the head of the White House about sanctions, commercial relations and NATO in Europe. A negotiation that goes far beyond its last proposals to submit to Ukraine.
First, Alaska is a safe place for Putin. The Order of the International Criminal Court to stop it is still in force. Putin is accused of war crimes for forced deportation to Russia of Ukrainian children. Neither Russia nor the United States recognizes the jurisdiction of the Court and Moscow's journey to Alaska does not require third countries that could be hostile. A trip is not expected to stumble upon the unexpected difficulties that could arise during a flight on the black sea before arriving in Istanbul, for example.
Taking a quick look back, the summits between the US and Russia, or between the US and the Soviet Union of previous times, are usually held in colder places than Türkiye. The most notable was Helsinki's summit in 2018, the last meeting between Presidents Putin and Trump. That was where Trump said he trusted Putin more than in his own espionage services about everything that referred to the accusations of foreign interference during the American elections of 2016.
Those who remember the Cold War will be thinking about the 1986 Reykiavik Summit, when Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev talked about the elimination of nuclear weapons without reaching an agreement. Gorbachev wanted Reagan to stop testing with antimile defense systems that were popularly known as the Galaxias War program. The then president of the United States did not access and the summit ended in failure.
In the 1990s the summits between the two countries became more frequent. Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin came to meet in the British cities of Birmingham and Shropshire in 1998, when Russia had just joined what then became the G8. The nuclear disarmament and the cooperation of the G8 are today picturesque memories of a past era. Today, the group of the most powerful countries is renamed G7 after the expulsion of Russia.
The Alaska Summit between the US and Russia is only the fourth since 2010. Although it cannot be ruled out that negotiations lead to a high fire in Ukraine, there are not too many reasons for optimism. The war continues to be freely free on the front and the rear, with repeated Russia bombings over the Ukrainian cities to try to submit to its neighbor.
Francisco de Zárate translation
