Putin's rare English four-word comment to Trump as lengthy meeting ends without deal
The English language isn't something that comes out of Vladimir Putin's mouth very often, so it was fascinating to hear him dish it out in Alaska this week.
In town to discuss a potential ceasefire with US President Donald Trump, the two engaged in over three hours' worth of back-and-forth behind closed doors before opening the floor to media questions.
Asked whether they'd managed to shake hands on ending the Ukrainian conflict, which has been ongoing since early 2022, Trump confirmed they hadn't, but Putin was keen to suggest that any future face-offs would unfold in his native Moscow instead of American soil.
"We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there," Trump told the press regarding a Russia/Ukraine peace deal.
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"I'm going to start making a few phone calls and tell them what happened. But we had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to, and there are just a very few that are left.
"Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant."
Putin later made a rare comment, which he said in English.
"Next time in Moscow," he said to Trump, which seemed to catch him off guard a bit.
"That’s an interesting one, I’ll get a little heat on that one. But I could see it possibly happening," replied the US leader.
This would be the first time any US president has swung by Russia since Barack Obama in 2013.
Ahead of their summit in Anchorage, Trump was quizzed on whether he believed he could truly broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine.
"I'll tell you what. I've had that conversation with him. I've had a lot of good conversations with him then I go home and I see that a rocket hit a nursing home or a rocket hit an apartment building, and people are laying dead in the streets," he explained.
"So, I guess the answer to that is no, because I've had this conversation. I want to end the war. It's [Joe] Biden's war, but I want to end it. I'll be very proud to end this war, along with the five other wars I ended. But, I guess the answer to that is probably no."
As for what consequences Putin's nation would suffer if it failed to comply with Trump's ideas, the 79-year-old said it would be 'very severe'.
"Economically severe. It will be very severe. I’m not doing this for my health, okay, I don’t need it. I’d like to focus on our country, but I’m doing this to save a lot of lives. Yeah, very severe," he revealed.
Elsewhere in the big meeting, Trump hand-delivered a letter to his Russian counterpart that was penned by his wife, Melania Trump.
Inside, it's believed that she let Putin know exactly how she felt about the children of Ukraine who've been abducted by Russian forces against the will of their parents.
Russia previously claimed that these tens of thousands of youngsters were removed from Ukraine to protect them from the war zones.
Topics: Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Russia, US News, Politics
Dan Seddon