President Vladimir Putin’s old-guard loyalists and financial power-brokers face off against President Donald Trump’s most trusted advisers in a high-stakes summit in Alaska.
Each side will field five official representatives, supported by teams of experts. On the Russian side, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov will join Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, and special economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
Trump’s delegation will feature a mix of political and business allies, including a property mogul, a former Fox News host, and the United States’ top diplomat.
Notably absent from the meeting will be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country has been at war with Russia since 2022. Zelensky denounced his exclusion, calling the gathering a “personal victory” for Putin and insisting that discussions on Ukraine’s future “should involve at least three people.”
Despite the entourages, the summit is expected to hinge on a private, one-on-one encounter between Trump and Putin – a scenario that has long been regarded as both unpredictable and fraught with potential risk.
