Moscow, August 15. The Alaska summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump ended Friday, two hours and 45 minutes after it began, without an agreement on a ceasefire or the additional sanctions the Republican had promised to apply if hostilities continued. Both described their meeting as "productive" and "useful."
The highly anticipated press conference was a disappointment for journalists, as Putin and Trump limited themselves to brief statements and did not accept questions.
It was striking that no explanation was given for the changes to the agreed program: the cancellation of the meeting with full delegations and the working lunch. Although, according to Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, the summit was scheduled to last six to seven hours, it ended much earlier.
Putin and Trump spoke of progress, but did not mention any. It is unclear whether they did not want to reveal these "understandings" because, for them to materialize, Trump needs to inform his European partners and the Ukrainian government, or whether they are not yet significant enough. The Republican tycoon tried unsuccessfully to explain this, saying that "we have made progress," but "we still need to agree on some important points.
