On eve of Trump–Putin Summit, Russians share hopes — and doubts — for Peace

MOSCOW —  The Kremlin and the White House have both confirmed that Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet one-on-one in Alaska on Friday before expanding talks to their delegations. The summit starts at 11:30 a.m. local time according to the Kremlin, followed by a joint press conference. Ukraine will dominate the agenda, alongside trade and U.S.–Russia cooperation.

Speaking on Fox News Radio Thursday, Trump called the talks “like a chess game,” framing them as a setup for a possible follow-up meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to “make a deal.”

“There will be a give and take as to boundaries, lands, etc.,” Trump said. “This meeting sets up the second meeting, but there is a 25% chance that this meeting will not be a successful meeting,” he said.

Trump said Putin’s visit to the U.S. signals he’s interested in ending his war in Ukraine and credited their personal rapport. While doubtful of an immediate ceasefire, Trump said he expects one “to come,” and floated Alaska as a potential location for a second summit – though he backed off when pressed on whether he had asked Zelenskyy to be ready to quickly join them in Anchorage. “I don’t want to talk about a second meeting, even to him. I don’t want to even indicate there might be a second meeting,” he said.

Earlier in the day in Moscow, President Putin gathered his top advisors and thanked the Trump administration for its “sincere efforts” to broker peace, and even raised the possibility of a new arms control deal.

Up until this point Putin has largely kept silent about the Trump meeting, even as average Russians have speculated on what deals might be on offer.

At a scenic river overlook just outside the Kremlin, Russians interviewed by NPR said they hoped for an end to the war — even if they disagree on how to get there.

Vladimir, a former navy sailor from Saint Petersburg, blames NATO expansion for the conflict, likening it to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Galina Shalaikina, from Novosibirsk in Siberia, hopes the summit brings an end to the fighting — but only after Russia meets its military goals. She also said she saw no reason for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be included in the summit.

“The leaders of two big countries are meeting,” says Shalaikina. “Why should a small poor country like Ukraine dominate the discussions?”

Alexander, an opponent of the war who declined to provide his last name due to fear of government pressure, said he had “zero hope” Trump would succeed in getting Putin to stop the war.

“We’ll see some political trading that could be good for the leaders,” he explains, “but not for average people.”

Putin has said he wants peace — but only on Moscow’s terms. Those include ending Ukraine’s NATO ambitions, demilitarization, and ceding land claimed by Russia. He has so far rejected Trump’s calls for a ceasefire, appearing confident that the battlefield will bring him more leverage than the negotiating table.

Sergei Markov, a former Putin spokesman, argues Trump might still help deliver a deal — but warns against overestimating the breakthrough. He’s watched a quarter century of American presidents repeatedly fail to swerve Putin from what Markov says is a just defense of Russian interests.

“All American presidents try to fix relations with Russia — and all end up with bad relations.” It could happen to Donald Trump, too, warns Markov.

The message from Moscow: even for a norm-busting U.S. president seeking peace, there are geopolitical traditions that are hard to break.