White House discloses Trump’s approach to Putin summit

The US president wants to rely on “diplomacy and negotiation” rather than sanctions in relations with Moscow, Karoline Leavitt has said

US President Donald Trump believes that diplomacy is the best way to end the Ukraine conflict, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt has told Fox News ahead of the American leader’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.

Washington has a wide range of “tools” at its disposal that it can use if necessary but would still very much prefer to try out a diplomatic approach first, according to Leavitt.

Washington and Moscow have both tempered expectations for the summit, signaling the meeting will likely end up being just the first in a string of top-level talks rather than yield an immediate breakthrough.

Trump earlier described the summit with Putin as a “feel-out meeting” that will help him determine whether the Ukraine conflict can be resolved.

“The president wants to exhaust all options to try to bring this war to a peaceful resolution,” Leavitt said Thursday. “He has always said that diplomacy and negotiation is his primary way of hoping to end this war. That’s what he will be looking to do tomorrow.”

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Kremlin reveals details of Putin-Trump summit

The American leader is reluctant to resort to more forceful measures in its dealings with Moscow, Leavitt said, adding that, although sanctions and “many other measures” are on the table, that does not mean that Trump “is willing” to use them.

The spokeswoman also confirmed that the summit will feature a one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin followed by a lunch with the respective delegations and a joint press conference of the two leaders.

Such a schedule was earlier confirmed by the Kremlin. The Russian delegation will include Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, and Special Presidential Representative for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries Kirill Dmitriev, according to Ushakov himself.

Washington is yet to officially announce who will be accompanying Trump to Alaska.

The Russian delegation is expected to return home immediately after the negotiations conclude.