Rubio spoke with Lavrov, to prepare the Putin-Trump summit. The State Department reveals which leader has requested the meeting
Traditional Russian wooden dolls (Matrioşka), which depict the Russian President Vladimir Putin, and US President Donald Trump, are exhibited for sale in a souvenir shop in the center of Moscow, on March 19, 2025: Photo: Nikita Borissov / AFP / Profimedia
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed on Tuesday with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to prepare the summit in Alaska between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the State Department announced, according to AFP.
“Both parties confirmed their commitment to the success of the event,” the Romanian department spokesman Tammy Bruce told the journalists.
Bruce confirmed that Putin asked for the meeting, which will take place in the US state on Friday.
Zelenski, about the summit in Alaska: “A personal victory for Putin”
Earlier during the day, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski described the Alaska meeting as a “personal victory” for Putin, who was widely convicted by the West after the invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022.
3 days before the crucial summit in Alaska, Zeenski calls the key region from where he will not withdraw his troops: “Putin will have a free path”
“First of all, he (Putin, no) will have a meeting in the American territory, which I think is a personal victory for him,” said Zelenski, adding that this meeting took the Russian president from “isolation” and has postponed possible American sanctions against Moscow.
Rubio: “For Trump, a meeting does not mean a concession”
Rubio, in a radio interview given on Tuesday, rejected the criticisms of the summit.
Trump “feels that he has to look at the man opposite, see him face to face, listen and evaluate him,” Rubio said in the show “Sid and Friends”.
“People need to understand that, for President Trump, a meeting does not mean a concession,” the head of American diplomacy insisted.
Zelenski excluded any withdrawal of Ukrainian forces in Donbas on Tuesday to put an end to the war with Moscow, just three days before the summit between the Kremlin and Donald Trump leader, which causes Kiev concerns about a possible agreement in his disadvantage, notes AFP.
