In the early hours of Saturday morning following a summit in Alaska between the leaders of Russia and the United States, senior politicians in Moscow were quick to trumpet the meeting as a win for Russia and its narrative of the war in Ukraine.

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

At the 2025 Alaska summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his United States counterpart Donald Trump, a rather unusual item was reportedly part of the Russian leader’s security detail: a suitcase designed to collect and transport his excrement.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held calls on Saturday with his Turkish and Hungarian counterparts, the Russian foreign ministry said, hours after a summit between the U.S. and Russian presidents yielded no deal on ending the war in Ukraine.

The problem is that they have no strategy of their own for ending the Ukraine war, other than hoping to contain Russia over the longer term.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un have vowed to strengthen cooperation, days ahead of Putin's summit in Alaska with Donald Trump, Pyongyang's state media reported Wednesday.