The White House announced in a press schedule statement on Thursday that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Anchorage, Alaska, at 11 a.m. (1900 GMT) on Friday.
Trump is scheduled to leave the White House at 6:45 am EDT (10:45 pm GMT) and depart Anchorage at 5:45 pm Alaska Time, Reuters reported. He is expected to return to the White House early on Saturday.
The Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska will host the high-stakes Trump Putin summit to discuss ending the Ukraine war. The facility, which is roughly 700 miles from the Russian border, is home to over 30,000 service troops, their families, and civilian staff.
The two world leaders will address a joint press conference after the summit, The White House confirmed. However, Trump added that if the meeting “doesn’t end well,” he might make solo remarks.
The Trump Putin summit will be followed by a “bilateral lunch” between the two presidents and their respective delegations, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. She was speaking on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” on Thursday.
As the two leaders prepare to meet in Alaska on Friday, Trump on Thursday said he believed that Putin wants to “make a deal” and “will make peace.”
Earlier, Trump threatened Putin with “very severe consequences” if he doesn’t agree to end the Ukraine war. The US president stated that he hopes to proceed towards a trilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky if the summit goes well.
The Russian leader informed his senior officials on Thursday that the US is making “energetic and sincere efforts” to end the war in Ukraine.
According to Russian state-owned news agency RIA, the nation’s ambassador to the US, Alexander Darchiev, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have arrived in Alaska for the crucial summit.
Talks to normalise relations with Washington are still in progress, Darchiev told a Russian Channel One reporter before to his flight to Alaska.
Putin’s foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov, defence minister Andrey Belousov, finance minister Anton Siluanov, and senior negotiator and head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund Kirill Dmitriev are also anticipated to be on Russia’s negotiating team.
Ushakov provided additional information regarding the Alaska summit’s agenda, stating that Trump and Putin will initially speak one-on-one with the assistance of interpretors before continuing their discussions over a business lunch.