A high-profile summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has concluded without a deal but with significant progress and global ramifications.

A Chilly Summit in Alaska

The leaders of the world’s two greatest powers - Russia and the United States - have met in Alaska to discuss one of the century’s most significant global geopolitical issues: the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The US President Donald Trump likes to tout himself as a dealmaker and an international peacemaker. Before this summit, he expressed considerable confidence in his ability to establish a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine at this meeting. However, the summit ended without any ceasefire deal due to a number of factors.

The Western leaders and their propagandist media deceived their audience by misinterpreting facts and presenting Russia as an isolated power around the world. The United States also threatened Moscow economically by imposing trade sanctions on Russia and its allies, especially India and Brazil. A few weeks back, the US President gave a 10-12-day ultimatum to Russia to sign a peace deal with Ukraine. The Trump administration also threatened to impose additional tariffs on India if the Alaska summit failed to exert diplomatic pressure on Moscow, hours before the scheduled meeting between the Russian and US presidents.

However, none of this helped the Western nations to achieve their perceived outcomes due to Russia’s resilient economy and visionary leadership of President Putin. The Trump administration gave a red carpet reception to President Putin, in acknowledgment of his great leadership and the significance of Russia in global affairs. The two leaders shared a lengthy and warm handshake.

This reception by the US administration shunned the Western propaganda of Russia’s isolation and declining power. Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of Russia, also stated, “Western media are in a state that can be called insanity, bordering on complete madness: for three years they talked about Russia’s isolation, and today they saw the red carpet that greeted the Russian President in the United States.”

The summit was anticipated to take around seven hours. However, it wrapped up in less than three hours. The Presidents of the two superpowers held a joint press conference about the developments and discussions held at the meeting. The Russian President repeated his legitimate and valid concern of eliminating the “primary cause” of the conflict to ensure a perpetual peace in the region. Undoubtedly, the Ukrainian bid for NATO membership sparked an armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as it poses a direct threat to Russia’s security and sovereignty.

Western Pressure and Russian Resilience

International analysts have increasingly acknowledged the legitimacy of this Russian demand and accuse the West of igniting this conflict, leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians. The Western nations, including the United States and European countries, have sabotaged numerous peace talks between Russia and Ukraine previously. Their prime ambition is to ensnare Russia in a war of attrition to impede its economic and diplomatic rise. In addition, they want Moscow to succumb to their propaganda and let NATO reach its borders. However, President Putin warned the European and Ukrainian leadership against throwing a “wrench in the works” and admonished them against any efforts to utilize “backroom dealings to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress.”

U.S. President Trump praised the meeting in his statement before a gathering of journalists. He also rated the meeting a “10 out of 10” in an interview with Fox News. He stated that the two sides agreed on many points; however, they had a diverging stance on some points, including a significant one, hinting towards Russia’s steadfast position about assurance of no further eastward expansion of NATO. While admitting his failure to achieve a temporary ceasefire, he stated, “There were many, many points that we agreed on … I would say a couple of big ones are that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway.”

Trump’s failure to achieve a ceasefire during this summit is widely being seen as a dent to his reputation as a dealmaker. This was probably due to his lack of prior engagement with other Western stakeholders or his ulterior motive of blackmailing them through this summit for more economic concessions. He also endorsed President Putin’s stance of establishing perpetual peace by stating, “It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere ceasefire agreement, which oftentimes does not hold up.”

NATO Expansion: The Core Sticking Point

The two sides have signalled their intent to hold further discussions on the issue. President Putin invited the US President to Moscow for the next round of talks on the issue. In response, Trump stated, “I’ll get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening.” Moreover, Trump also said that he will discuss the meeting with NATO officials and the Ukrainian President.

Indeed, permanent peace is impossible without the involvement of all the stakeholders. In addition, the West must acknowledge the fact that peace can only be achieved by halting further eastward expansion of NATO. The Western leaders will have to abandon their desire to grant NATO membership to establish perpetual regional peace. Otherwise, the flames of this ongoing fire would engulf the whole region sooner.

?bbas Hashemite is a political observer and research analyst for regional and global geopolitical issues. He is currently working as an independent researcher and journalist. Courtesy

https://journal-neo.su/2025/08/17/no-ceasefire-no-concessions-putin-emerges-stronger-from-alaska/