 "US President Donald Trump walks to shake the hand of Russian President Vladimir Putin during a joint press conference at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. (Photo: AP)")
Vladimir Putin’s ‘history rant’ at the Alaska Summit and rejection of ceasefire proposals nudged US President Donald Trump closer to Ukraine and adopt a relatively harsher stance towards Russia, according to Financial Times.
Trump hosted Putin at Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15 to strike a deal to end the Russian war on Ukraine. But the summit did not result in any deal.
Instead, Putin rejected Trump’s offer of sanctions relief in exchange for a ceasefire and stressed that he would only end the war if Ukraine capitulated and ceded more territory in the Donbas region in the country’s east, as per the FT.
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While Trump and Putin greeted warmly on the tarmac and travelled to the venue together in the US presidential car ‘Beast’, the newspaper reported that the warmth disappeared as soon as the two leaders began the meeting with a small group of officials behind closed doors.
What particularly pushed Trump to the edge was Putin’s rambling history lesson that justified the war on Ukraine, the report said.
In the weeks since the Alaska Summit, Trump has increasingly shown frustration over Putin’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire. He has also agreed to sell more weapons to Ukraine and US intelligence agencies have been reportedly helping Ukraine in its campaign of strikes deep inside Russia on critical infrastructure.
Trump wanted a peace deal but Putin delivered history lessons
The FT reported that Putin rambled about Russia’s medieval history and talked of Rurik of Novgorod, Yaroslav the Wise, and Cossack chieftain Bohdan Khmelnytsky — figures he has often cited to make his point that Russia and Ukraine are essentially one nation and Ukraine should not be a sovereign state.
Taken aback at the history lesson, Trump raised his voice several times and at one point threatened to walk out, people aware of the matter told the newspaper.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsEventually, Trump cut the meeting short and cancelled a scheduled lunch after the meeting where broader delegation-level talks would have taken place. Those talks would have been aimed at boosting US-Russia trade and economic ties.
ALSO READ: Is Trump giving Putin reasons to believe he’s ‘weak’? Russia expert explains Ukraine U-turns
The newspaper described the Alaska Summit as “a nadir in the Trump-Putin relationship that set off a US shift to the benefit of Ukraine”.
The newspaper reported that Trump’s perception that Putin would be willing to make territorial concessions in a deal were based on misconceptions. The report said that his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, had misunderstood Putin’s terms in a meeting with the Russian leader in Moscow earlier that month .
“He [Wifkoff] misunderstood everything Putin said about what the summit was going to be about,” a person briefed on the talks told FT.