The comparison

Alaska summit, how the seven previous meetings between Trump and Putin ended

Analysis of the meetings between Trump and Putin, from mutual praise to tension over Ukraine

15 August 2025

Incontro con Putin, Trump: E' un tipo intelligente, andiamo d'accordo, qualcosa uscirà fuori

4' min read

Today's meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, is the seventh face-to-face meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and the first in Trump's second term in the White House. The New York Times traced a chronology of the relations and previous meetings between the US president and the Russian leader over the years.

Miss Universe in Moscow

In 2007, after Time magazine had chosen Putin as 'Man of the Year', Trump wrote him a congratulatory letter. "As you have probably heard, I am agreat fan of yours!" the tycoon wrote. Six years later, Trump brought the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow. Months before the pageant, which he owned at the time, he asked on social media whether Putin would attend and, if so, "will he become my new best friend?" Putin did not attend the event.

Exchange of compliments

Later, soon after formally announcing his candidacy for the White House in 2015, Trump told reporters in July of that year that he would 'have a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin'. The exchange of compliments continued, when Putin called Trump 'a very brilliant and talented man', and the tycoon replied that that praise was a 'great honour'.

The backward march

In July 2016, however, Trump appeared to backtrack after repeatedly claiming for years that he had a personal relationship with the Russian leader. "He said something nice about me. He said I was a genius. I thanked him from the bottom of my heart and that was the end of the story. I never met Putin," he said at the time. Also in 2016, during the last presidential debate, Hillary Clinton suggested that Trump would be Putin's "butter", but the tycoon rejected the hypothesis to the sender. But doubts about Trump's ties with Russia were not resolved and, after his inauguration in January 2017, Russia's role in the US election long dominated the political debate in the US

US intelligence

A US intelligence assessment, made public that month, concluded that Putin had ordered an operation to interfer in the US election in an attempt to 'undermine public confidence in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and damage her eligibility and potential presidency'. Russia, according to the assessment, had 'developed a clear preference' for Trump. The tycoon denied any wrongdoing and attacked the investigation.

The G20 Summit in Hamburg

The first in-person meeting between the two leaders took place at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, where Trump asked Putin about Russian interference in the US elections. Putin denied any involvement. After the meeting, Trump seized his interpreter's notes and ordered him not to inform anyone.

In Vietnam and Helsinki

The two leaders met again in November of the same year, in Vietnam, and in July 2018 in Helsinki, Finland. On both occasions, Putin denied having interfered in the 2016 elections. In Helsinki, Trump sided with the Russian leader and disputed his own intelligence agencies' conclusions about Russian interference in the election

G20 in Argentina and Japan

Later in 2018, the two leaders spoke informally over dinner during a G20 meeting in Argentina. Little information emerged about that discussion. The two leaders met again before the end of Trump's first term, at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, in June 2019. By then, special prosecutor Robert Mueller had concluded that Russia had conducted a 'swift and systematic' attack on American democracy. Asked by a journalist whether he would enjoin Russia not to meddle in the US elections, Trump replied: 'Yes, of course I will'. He then turned to Putin with a half-smile and said, 'Don't meddle in the election, President,' as Putin chuckled.

The war in Ukraine

In February 2022, as Russia prepared to invade Ukraine, Trump, now out of the White House, called Putin a 'very intelligent man' who 'took control of a country with $2 sanctions' and 'without a second thought'.

Trump and Zelensky

The following year, as he launched his third presidential campaign, Trump declared that he would end the war in Ukraine 'before he even got to the Oval Office'. At the beginning of his second term, Trump expressed his interest in quickly ending the war in Ukraine. But his relations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky collapsed in February after a heated confrontation at the White House. Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance chided Zelensky for not showing more gratitude for US support, and the president claimed that Putin "had gone through a lot with me" in enduring the "Russian hoax", Trump's definition of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 vote.

The Alaska Summit

With the difficulties in ending the war in Ukraine 'in 24 hours', as promised in the election bell, Trump's frustration with the Russian president has grown. "I'm not happy with Putin, because he's killing a lot of people," the tycoon declared in July. Again Trump appeared to soften his comments ahead of the summit in Alaska, stating that he 'got along' with Putin and saying he was confident that he would know within 'a few minutes' of starting talks with the Russian leader whether he would reach an agreement to end the war.