U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are set to meet at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska on Friday, with the Russian delegation having arrived Thursday morning local time. Each president is accompanied by high-level delegations who will meet in addition to the one-on-one talks. Let’s take a look at who’s going to be at the table in Anchorage. Russian delegation Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

Sergei Lavrov. Russian Foreign Ministry

Lavrov, 75, has been Russia’s foreign minister since 2004. Described as “the frowning face of Russian diplomacy,” he is now dealing with his fifth U.S. presidential administration and is rumored to have tried to retire numerous times to no avail. According to the Financial Times, Lavrov, like many top officials, was not informed of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine until 1 a.m. on Feb. 24, 2022. Lavrov met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as recently as July, when the pair met in Kuala Lumpur on the sidelines of the annual ASEAN forum. The American diplomat told reporters that he expressed his and Donald Trump’s “frustration” at the lack of progress in the peace process during his meeting with Lavrov. In June, Lavrov said that Russia was fighting the entire West with no allies for the first time ever. “In World War I, in World War II, we had allies. Now we have no allies on the battlefield. Therefore, we must rely on ourselves, we must not allow any weakness or complacency,” he said. Lavrov has ruled out any territorial concessions to Ukraine as conditions for ending the war. Kirill Dmitriev

Kirill Dmitriev. kremlin.ru

Russia’s special economic envoy has played a key role in negotiations since the Feb. 18 meeting between U.S. and Russian officials in Riyadh. The Wall Street Journal reported that Dmitriev has forged a close relationship with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, with the pair spotted walking the streets of Moscow together during Witkoff’s visits. The Kyiv-born CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is a graduate of Stanford and Harvard and worked for both Goldman Sachs and McKinsey after graduation. Dmitriev reportedly returned to Russia in 2000 to work as deputy general director at IBS, then as investment director at a division of the U.S.-Russia Investment Fund created under Bill Clinton. Dmitriev was found to have met with Trump donor and Blackwater PMC founder Erik Prince in January 2017 to establish a link between Trump’s transition team and Moscow. That same month, Dmitriev met with Trump advisor Anthony Scaramucci at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Yuri Ushakov

Yuri Ushakov. kremlin.ru

A foreign policy aide to Putin since 2012, Ushakov previously served as Russia’s ambassador to the OSCE, the Russian ambassador to the U.S. and deputy chief of the government staff. Ushakov has been involved in Russian foreign policy across the globe, commenting on and attending meetings related to BRICS, Ukraine, East Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Ushakov is Putin’s “America guru,” Toby T. Gati, who served as the National Security Council’s senior director for Russia, Ukraine and the Eurasian States under the Clinton administration, said in Politico. He added that Ushakov would be a “largely silent presence” who will occasionally provide important insight or context to the Russian side. On Thursday, Ushakov told reporters that “the most acute regional and international issues” would be touched upon, in addition to the war in Ukraine, and that the length of the talks would depend on “how the discussion goes.” Defense Minister Andrei Belousov

Andrei Belousov. kremlin.ru

Andrei Belousov was appointed defense minister in May 2024, succeeding the long-serving Sergey Shoigu, who oversaw numerous failures in the first two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Belousov is an economist and technocrat with no military background who was likely given the post to “deploy his number-crunching skills and bureaucratic oversight.” At the time, analysts called his appointment “bad news for the West,” saying, “It is the development of the theme of a war of attrition.” He has previously served as Russia’s economic development minister and first deputy prime minister. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov

Anton Siluanov. Tatarstan.ru

Siluanov has been finance minister since 2011, previously serving as an economist for the minister and on the ministry’s board. He oversees organizations like Russia’s state property management agency Rosimushchestvo, which is responsible for seizing and holding assets for the state. In 2024, The Moscow Times’ Russian service estimated that the state seized a record 544.7 billion rubles ($6.71 billion) in assets from at least 67 companies across the food, real estate and retail sectors. Siluanov has also criticized plans to transfer frozen Russian assets to Kyiv, saying, “[It] undermines the foundations and pillars of the financial system when the gold and foreign exchange reserves of national banks are subject to political restrictions and freezes.” Hitting back, Siluanov said that Russia could do the same, using frozen Western assets to develop Russia. American delegation While Trump is also bringing a high-level delegation to Alaska, dedicated Russia experts are unlikely to be in the room. “It’s safe to say that Trump does not have a single policymaking person who knows Russia and Ukraine advising him,” Eric Rubin, a former career diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria during Trump’s first term, told the Financial Times. Trump’s administration has gutted Foggy Bottom, laying off more than 1,300 staffers in July. A senior U.S. official familiar with the matter told FT: “My understanding is that the traditional Washington foreign policy process led by the National Security Council has largely broken down in this administration.” These are the officials representing the U.S. in Anchorage:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio. U.S. Department of State

Rubio, a former senator from Florida and prominent Trump critic, has seen his star rise in the second Trump administration. A onetime champion of support for Ukraine, he has changed his tone to toe the Trump administration’s more isolationist, and some would say sympathetic to Russia, view of the world. According to reporting by CNN, Rubio has amassed major influence in the White House. Ahead of the Alaska summit, he told reporters: “To achieve a peace, I think we all recognize that there’ll have to be some conversation about security guarantees. There’ll have to be some conversation about … territorial disputes and claims, and what they’re fighting over.” “All these things will be part of a comprehensive thing. But I think the President’s hope is to achieve some stoppage of fighting so that those conversations can happen.” “[Trump] sees an opportunity to talk about achieving peace.” Rubio continued. “He’s going to pursue it, and we’ll know tomorrow at some point, as the President said, probably very early in that meeting, whether something is possible or not. We hope it is.”

Special envoy Steve Witkoff

A former commercial real estate tycoon and Trump golf partner who officially serves as special envoy to the Middle East, Witkoff has traveled to Russia several times since Trump took office in January, most recently last week. Putin reportedly told Witkoff in Moscow that he would agree to a complete ceasefire if Ukraine agreed to withdraw forces from all of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, The Wall Street Journal said. However, German outlet BILD reported that Witkoff misunderstood the Russian leader during their talks last week, changing his version of the terms multiple times. Witkoff allegedly understood Russia’s demand for Ukraine’s “peaceful withdrawal” from the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as a proposal for Russia to withdraw from those regions. “Witkoff doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” a Ukrainian government official told BILD. That assessment was shared by an anonymous member of Trump’s first administration, who told The New York Post: “Nice guy, but a bumbling f***ing idiot. He should not be doing this alone.” It was also reported in May that Witkoff used a Kremlin translator in his conversations, declining to bring his own. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick A Trump donor turned cabinet secretary, Lutnick has been a vocal proponent of Trump’s tariff policy and an outspoken critic of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Lutnick, who had no foreign policy experience before joining the Trump administration, was brought on to the Ukraine portfolio in February. After Zelensky’s disastrous Oval Office meeting with Trump that month, Lutnick told Fox News that the Ukrainian president’s “demands” were “ridiculous.” “We will not give you security guarantees while you are at war with Russia. This is just ridiculous. His demands were ridiculous. They were unreasonable. The president tolerated it for a while. You know, he came to make peace… And Zelensky was not there for peace. He wanted to make some fictional deal that was in his head, and in the end, it just ran out of steam,” he said. He again invoked the Oval Office meeting when discussing Canada’s conduct in trade negotiations: “You imagine coming into this country, sitting in the Oval Office, having received $300 billion in aid from U.S. and military and NATO and all the rest, and the first words out of your mouth aren’t thank you. Just say thank you.” CIA Director John Ratcliffe Ratcliffe, who served as the acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine. At a Senate hearing in March, Ratcliffe said Ukrainian forces would fight with “their bare hands” if need be. “The Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian military have been underestimated for a period of several years now. From my reflections in observing, from an intelligence standpoint, I’m convinced that they will fight with their bare hands if they have to, if they don’t have terms that are acceptable to an enduring peace.” After the Trump administration suspended intelligence sharing with Ukraine in March, Ratcliffe said the pause would “go away,” adding that the U.S. would “work shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine as we have to push back on the aggression that’s there.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

Scott Bessent. Senator Tim Scott

A Ukrainian serviceman checks the sky for Russian combat drones, near the town of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, on August 5. Reuters

Russian forces in eastern and northern Ukraine have made further advances, according to analysts – with the towns of Pokrovsk in Donetsk and Kupyansk in Kharkiv at risk of being surrounded.

The incremental Russian gains come as Russian President Vladimir Putin proposes a plan to the US that would require Ukraine to cede the eastern Donbas region — most of which is currently occupied — as well as Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, according to US officials.

The Russians have been trying to take Pokrovsk for more than a year. Ukrainian defenses have held, but Moscow’s advances to the north and southwest of the town are threatening to cut off Ukrainian supply routes.

The Ukrainian military said Saturday that there had been 45 Russian attacks in the Pokrovsk area over the past 24 hours.

A Ukrainian officer in the area told CNN today: “I can’t say the situation is critical but there are risks (of encirclement).” He added that at present the Russians had not reached a village to the north of Pokrovsk that is a vital resupply route.

The Russians have also made further advances towards the border of the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to the unofficial DeepState website, which follows battlefield developments.

The Russians have closed in on Kupyansk from the north. The Center for Defense Strategies – a Ukrainian think-tank – said Saturday that Russian forces are trying to reach the main highway supplying Ukrainian troops in the area.

For context: According to the Belfer Center at Harvard University, Russian forces gained 226 square miles (585 sq kms) of Ukrainian territory between July 8 and August 5, up from 190 square miles the previous month.

Worried about being sidelined at an upcoming summit meeting between President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, European and Ukrainian leaders gathered on Saturday outside London with top American officials both to understand Mr. Putin’s position and to ensure that Mr. Trump understands what is at stake.

At the meeting, the Europeans showed their solidarity with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and tried to make clear their view that Mr. Trump should take their joint perspectives into account, two European officials who were briefed on the meeting said on the condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations.

The Europeans, as they have done regularly, supported Ukraine’s positions, insisting that a cease-fire must precede talks on any territorial changes, that Ukraine will not hand over territory to Russia that Moscow does not occupy and that any deal would have to be accompanied by security guarantees, including from the United States, the European officials said.

They also insisted that no deal can be made by Washington and Moscow over the heads of the Ukrainians or the Europeans, who Mr. Trump says must be responsible for the post-settlement security of Ukraine. And they insisted, as they have always done, that NATO will not shut the door to Ukrainian membership, even if that is not practical now.

Summary Trump open to meeting Putin and Zelenskiy, says White House

Zelenskiy says he spoke with Trump

Trump threatens more tariffs on China, this time over Russian oil

Trump has set Friday deadline for Russia to agree to end war

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW, Aug 6 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin as soon as next week, a White House official said on Wednesday, as the U.S. continued preparations to impose secondary sanctions, including potentially on China, to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine

Such a face-to-face meeting would be the first between a sitting U.S. and Russian president since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021, some eight months before Russia launched the biggest attack on a European nation since World War Two.

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Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have not met since December 2019 and make no secret of their contempt for each other.

The New York Times reported that Trump told European leaders during a call on Wednesday that he intended to meet with Putin and then follow up with a trilateral involving the Russian leader and Zelenskiy.

“There’s a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon,” Trump told reporters.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the president is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelenskiy.”

The details emerged following a meeting on Wednesday between Putin and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff that Trump described as having achieved “great progress” in a Truth Social post, although later said he would not call it a breakthrough.

A Kremlin aide said the talks were “useful and constructive.”

The diplomatic maneuvers come two days before a deadline set by Trump for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions.

Trump has been increasingly frustrated with Putin over the lack of progress towards peace and has threatened to impose heavy tariffs on countries that buy Russian exports, including oil.

Trump on Wednesday also said he could announce further tariffs on China similar to the 25% duties announced earlier on India over its purchases of Russian oil.

“We did it with India. We’re doing it probably with a couple of others. One of them could be China,” he said.

The White House official earlier said that while the meeting between Witkoff and Putin had gone well and Moscow was eager to continue engaging with the United States, secondary sanctions that Trump had threatened against countries doing business with Russia were still expected to be implemented on Friday.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said the two sides had exchanged “signals” on the Ukraine issue and discussed the possibility of developing strategic cooperation between Moscow and Washington, but declined to give more details until Witkoff had reported back to Trump.

Zelenskiy said he believed pressure had worked on Russia and Moscow was now more “inclined” to a ceasefire.

“The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details – neither us nor the U.S.,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly address.

Item 1 of 3 U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam November 11, 2017. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File Photo [1/3] U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam November 11, 2017. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

Trump on Truth Social said he had updated some of Washington’s European allies following Witkoff’s meeting.

A German government spokesperson said Trump provided information about the status of the talks with Russia during a call with the German chancellor and other European leaders.

PRESSURE ON INDIA – AND MAYBE CHINA?

Trump took a key step toward punitive measures on Wednesday when he imposed an additional 25% tariff on imports from India, citing New Delhi’s continued imports of Russian oil.

The new measure raises tariffs on some Indian goods to as high as 50% — among the steepest faced by any U.S. trading partner. India’s external affairs ministry called the decision “extremely unfortunate.”

The Kremlin says threats to penalise countries that trade with Russia are illegal.

Trump’s comment on Wednesday that he could impose more tariffs on China would be a further escalation between the world’s two biggest economies.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week warned Chinese officials that continued purchases of sanctioned Russian oil would lead to big tariffs due to legislation in Congress.

The U.S. and China have been engaged in discussions about trade and tariffs , with an eye to extending a 90-day tariff truce that is due to expire on August 12, when their bilateral tariffs shoot back up to triple-digit figures.

AIR STRIKES

Bloomberg and independent Russian news outlet The Bell reported that the Kremlin might propose a moratorium on airstrikes by Russia and Ukraine – an idea mentioned last week by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during a meeting with Putin.

Such a move, if agreed, would fall well short of the full and immediate ceasefire that Ukraine and the U.S. have been seeking for months. But it would offer some relief to both sides.

Since the two sides resumed direct peace talks in May, Russia has carried out its heaviest air attacks of the war, killing at least 72 people in the capital Kyiv alone. Trump last week called the Russian attacks “disgusting.”

Ukraine continues to strike Russian refineries and oil depots, which it has hit many times.

Putin is unlikely to bow to Trump’s sanctions ultimatum because he believes he is winning the war and his military goals take precedence over his desire to improve relations with the U.S., three sources close to the Kremlin have told Reuters.

The Russian sources told Reuters that Putin was sceptical that yet more U.S. sanctions would have much of an impact after successive waves of economic penalties during the war.

Reporting by Gleb Bryanski in Moscow, Mark Trevelyan in London and Andrea Shalal and Jasper Ward in Washington; additional reporting by Olena Harmash and Yuliia Dysa in Kyiv, Lidia Kelly in Melbourne, Maria Martinez in Berlin and Reuters in Moscow; Writing by Daphne Psaledakis and Costas Pitas; Editing by Rod Nickel, Deepa Babington and Stephen Coates

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Success may depend on exactly what Mr. Trump demands: the “unconditional surrender” that he keeps talking about, or a narrower, face-saving halt in remaining nuclear enrichment, with the understanding that while Iran may retain what it views as its “right” to produce nuclear fuel, it will never again exercise that right.

“Two weeks may be enough time for an unconditional capitulation. A day suffices for that,” said Robert Malley, who participated in the negotiations that led to the 2015 agreement and then led the failed Biden-era effort to reconstitute some version of that deal.

But, Mr. Malley added, “that may be what President Trump wants, but it is almost certainly not what he will get. As the Islamic Republic sees it, it’s tantamount to being offered the choice between committing suicide and taking their chances at being killed. History suggests they will take their chances.”

Mr. Malley noted that there might be room for a diplomatic off-ramp, one in which “Iran agrees to ‘voluntarily’ and ‘temporarily’ stop enriching uranium, which is much easier now that its enrichment capacity is a shadow of its former self.” That, he added, could “give space for U.S.-Iranian negotiations and halt the mad dash to a U.S. war.”

It is the kind of creative approach that, when missiles were not flying, might be wordsmithed over weeks or months in Vienna, then taken back to Tehran and Washington for formal sign-off. Clearly, no one has time for that process now. As he emerged from the talks in Geneva on Friday, Mr. Araghchi did not sound in the mood for even starting down that road, any more than Mr. Trump sounded very interested in negotiating.