RUSSIA has rolled into Alaska with a swagger – and a sneer – earlier than Vladimir Putin even units foot on US soil.
From a USSR sweatshirt to Hen Kiev cutlets, Moscow has dialled up its twisted digs at Ukraine – mixing Chilly Struggle nostalgia with brazen mockery because it struts into talks that might resolve the nation’s future.
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International Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived for the summit carrying a sweatshirt screaming “CCCP” – the Russian initials for the Soviet Union – in a pointed reminder of Moscow’s imperial previous and its denial of Ukraine’s proper to exist.
As soon as hailed within the West as a wily diplomat, the 75-year-old now channels the Kremlin’s hardline swagger, doubling down on Soviet nostalgia at the same time as Russian forces slaughter Ukrainians on the entrance line.
Lithuanian ex-foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis mocked the selection: “‘Simply give us half of Ukraine and we promise we are going to cease,’ says negotiator carrying USSR sweatshirt.”
The stunt performs neatly into Putin’s warped narrative that Russians and Ukrainians are “one folks” – a lie that has underpinned the Kremlin’s land grabs, warfare crimes, and the tearing down of memorials to Ukraine’s struggling beneath Soviet rule.
However Lavrov’s jumper wasn’t the one jab.
On the flight to Alaska, Russian state journalists had been served Hen Kiev – the Ukrainian dish whose title alone is sufficient to provoke Moscow’s fury.
RT boss Margarita Simonyan gleefully posted in regards to the menu, whereas pro-Putin mouthpiece Sergei Markov went additional, snarling that “Putin and Trump ought to make a Hen Kiev out of Zelensky.”
The trolling temper soured when Russia’s press corps landed in Anchorage to seek out their “modest sleeping quarters” had been inside a transformed ice hockey stadium.
As soon as a Covid hospital, the venue is now lined with fold-out military beds donated by the Purple Cross.
“We live in Spartan circumstances,” one reporter grumbled in a clip shared on social media, The Guardian reported.
That is Russia’s model of diplomacy – trolling, humiliation, and a smug grin.
Behind the theatrics is a transparent purpose: to rattle Kyiv and its allies earlier than a summit that might form Ukraine’s destiny.
Zelensky has already warned that any deal with out Ukraine dangers catastrophe.
He stated earlier on Friday: “The important thing factor is that this assembly ought to open up an actual path towards a simply peace… We’re relying on America.”
Donald Trump, in the meantime, is publicly enjoying the arduous man.
“Possibly it’s in his genes,” he stated of Putin’s urge for food for killing, warning of “very severe” consequences if the Russian chief isn’t severe about peace.
“If I weren’t president, he would take over all of Ukraine… however I’m president and he’s not going to mess around with me.”
The 2 leaders will lock eyes on the Elmendorf-Richardson base close to Anchorage at 11.30am native time (8.30pm UK), with over 32,000 troops, air defences, and digital jamming programs locking the place down.
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Putin’s feared “Musketeers” bodyguards will be in tow, together with the nuclear briefcase – and even his infamous “poo suitcase” to protect his medical secrets and techniques.
Anchorage locals are already protesting, livid {that a} man wished for warfare crimes is being welcomed to US soil.
Many are demanding a right away finish to the “barbaric killing of harmless civilians” in Ukraine.
In the meantime, a former spy who educated on the similar KGB faculty as Vladimir Putin has warned of the Kremlin strongman’s powers of manipulation – and claimed the despot has already “won” today’s summit with Trump.
Behind closed doorways, Trump and Putin will “thrash out delicate issues” earlier than going through the press.
Sources counsel Trump might dangle financial sweeteners – from access to Alaska’s resources to a “West Bank-style” model letting Russia maintain its occupied Ukrainian land with out redrawing borders.
Putin has praised Trump’s “sincere efforts,” however Zelensky isn’t shopping for it – calling the Russian chief’s peace discuss a bluff.
Trump, for now, insists the stakes couldn’t be increased, posting a blunt warning earlier than boarding Air Drive One: “HIGH STAKES!!!”
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