Russia will deliver a clearly defined message to the United States at an upcoming bilateral summit in Alaska, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday after arriving in Anchorage.
“We never try to predict the outcome or make guesses,” Lavrov said of upcoming talks between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. counterpart Donald Trump at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
“What we do know is that we have clear arguments to contribute to the discussion, and our position is well defined. We will present it accordingly,” Lavrov told reporters.
Putin’s visit marks the first time a Russian leader has ever visited the state, which had been a part of the Russian Empire before it was sold to the United States in 1867. Lavrov said he had visited Alaska before.
He will be joined by Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov and special economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev as part of the Russian delegation.
The Kremlin has said the Alaska summit would focus on “the resolution of the Ukraine crisis.”
Putin described the Trump administration’s efforts to mediate an end to the war in Ukraine as “rather energetic and sincere,” and suggested Russia and the U.S. could sign an agreement on nuclear arms control as part of talks with Washington.
Trump said he believes Putin intends to “make a deal” to end the war in Ukraine at the summit, and that he was planning a second meeting with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky afterward.
Zelensky was not invited to the Alaska summit, which he has denounced as a reward to Putin, and has refused Trump's calls to surrender territory.
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