 "US President Donald Trump salutes as he walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the tarmac after they arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. - AFP")
After roughly 2.5 hours, talks between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska have come to an end . The Kremlin confirmed that the “narrow-format” talks between the two leaders had concluded, which was eventually followed by an abrupt press conference.
Two lecterns were set for a press conference instead of one, indicating that the meeting went satisfactorily for the leaders.
Earlier this week, Trump said he would downgrade his planned joint press conference to a solo appearance if he felt his talks with President Vladimir Putin went poorly.
An inconclusive summit
The summit in Alaska was more or less remain inconclusive as neither of the leaders mentioned the word ‘ ceasefire ’ as they addressed a joint press conference.
The joint presser ended abruptly, with both sides avoiding questions from the reporters. Putin was the first one to take the stage, emphasising that both leaders are in “agreement” in some aspects. Meanwhile, Trump maintained that ’there is no deal, until a deal’ and stated that he will now be speaking to European leaders, Nato allies, especially with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
It was unusual for Putin to take the mic first since, usually, when an American president is hosting a foreign counterpart, a joint news conference would begin with remarks from the US leader followed by his guest. However, this time, Putin opened the news conference as Trump looked on. Overall, exactly what happened during the meeting between the two remains unclear.