Top US, Russian diplomats speak ahead of Trump-Putin summit

WASHINGTON

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to prepare for Friday’s summit between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, the State Department said Tuesday.

Spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters that ‘both sides confirmed their commitment to a successful event” during the call, which focused on arrangements for the talks in the US state of Alaska.

Rubio said earlier Tuesday, that the summit will be a “feel-out meeting.”

"Well, I think it’s a feel-out meeting to be honest. I think here’s the way I would describe it. The president talked to Putin on the phone three times or four times. And nothing has come of it and, or at least we haven’t gotten to where we want to be. And so, the president feels like, look, ‘I’ve got to look at this guy across the table. I need to see him face-to-face. I need to hear him one-on-one. I need to make an assessment by looking at him,’" he said.

The White House described the meeting as a “listening exercise” for Trump, with spokesperson Karoline Leavitt saying the president’s goal is to gain “a better understanding of how we can end this war” in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not been invited, with Leavitt noting the sit-down is taking place at Putin’s request.

The meeting will be the first between sitting Russian and US presidents since June 2021 and the first visit by a Russian president to Alaska since the territory was sold by the Russian Empire to the US in 1867.