Featured Image Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Russia, Ukraine, US News
Joe Harker
Topics: Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Russia, Ukraine, US News
A body language expert has weighed in on the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska, where they discussed a deal over a potential ceasefire in Ukraine.
However, they didn't invite Ukrainian representatives to the meeting and nothing was agreed, with Putin apparently naming his price to be Ukraine handing over territory which the country is understandably unwilling to do.
Before the meeting, Trump warned there could be 'severe consequences' if a ceasefire deal wasn't agreed, but afterwards changed his tune and said he thought it would be best to go 'directly to a peace agreement'.
Russia and Ukraine's idea of what a peace agreement would look like are very far apart, and as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits the White House today (18 August) accompanied by several European leaders, reaching an agreement that leaves everyone happy seems almost impossible.
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While Trump had been a bit more frosty towards Putin in recent months, when the pair met in Alaska an expert said things started off very warmly.
Body language expert Judi James told the Daily Mail that Trump greeted Putin with the 'ultimate ego stroke', treating the Russian leader as though he was a 'celebrity guest' with a warm handshake on the airport tarmac.
She said this got a good response from Putin, who was 'delighted' to have been received in Alaska in such a way.
However, she said that once they got down to brass tacks Trump put on a 'stern power pose', and that when a second handshake took place he had a 'noticeably harder' stare.
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James claimed that the US president let go of Putin's hand faster the second time, suggesting that there was less warmth in the gesture.
Whether that was because they'd moved to the more serious part of the summit after the initial meet and greet or because they were getting annoyed at each other in some way is not clear.
In a related cockup, several pages of documents pertaining to the talks in Alaska were accidentally left in a public printer in a nearby hotel.
The pages left behind were said to contain a schedule for the day's events, the phone numbers of several officials involved and a menu for lunch provided.
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One of the pages reportedly had a guide on how to pronounce the names of the Russian delegation members.
Ultimately, nothing was agreed during the meeting between Trump and Putin, the first time the US president and Russian leader have met in person in years.
Having met for talks on US soil, which had formerly been Russian soil before they sold it to the Americans, Putin suggested that he and Trump could potentially meet again in Moscow later on.