All eyes on Alaska as Trump and Putin prepare to meet

(NewsNation) — While critics fear the Friday summit in Anchorage between President Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin will prove to be a sort of “prebaked Alaska” granting major concessions to Moscow, Trump expressed optimism Thursday that the meeting will set the stage for lasting peace in Ukraine.

Both leaders and their representatives are set to meet at 3:30 Eastern Time at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, or JBER, a U.S. military installation that is roughly equidistant (about 4,300 miles) from Moscow and Washington, D.C.

Trump, who is expected to be accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff, said Friday’s meeting, depending on how it goes, may lead to a second meeting that includes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and possibly even European leaders who have an interest in ending the war.

“We're going to find out where everybody stands, and I’ll know within the first two minutes, three minutes, four minutes or five minutes — we intend to find out — whether or not we’re going to have a good meeting or a bad meeting,” Trump said of Friday’s bilateral summit. “And if it's a bad meeting, it'll end very quickly, and if it's a good meeting, we're going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future.”

Putin praises Trump ahead of Alaska meeting

Meanwhile, in Russia on Thursday, Putin met with his top advisers at the Kremlin and praised Trump for his efforts to reach peace. He said there’s a chance of a deal but one that directly involves the U.S. and not Ukraine. Putin said Friday’s meeting could even yield a nuclear weapons deal between the two superpowers, but analysts say that could be his way of pushing off punishing sanctions to buy Russia more time.

Friday’s face-to-face meeting marks the first time Trump and Putin have met in six years and the first since Trump returned to the White House. It’s also the first time Putin has stepped on U.S. soil in nearly 10 years.

The setting, Alaska, holds historical significance. Russia sold the land to the United States for $7.2 million in 1867 to pay for its Crimean War.

What is JBER, where Trump, Putin are meeting?

JBER, the base where Trump is meeting Putin, played a pivotal defense role during the Cold War between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. It houses a military community of 32,000 people, which comprises about 10% of the population of Anchorage.

Trump and Putin are expected to hold a joint news conference Friday following their meeting.