WASHINGTON – When Vladimir Putin’s summit with Donald Trump ended, the Russian president commanded the world’s attention.
“Mr. President. Ladies and gentlemen,” Putin began.
That Putin spoke first at a U.S.-hosted summit was highly unusual. Trump gestured to the sanctioned Russian leader as they took the stage that he should lead the way.
Addressing the cameras, Putin declared that an “agreement” had been reached that could solve the “Ukrainian issue” and restore “business-like” relations with the United States.
Trump said several minutes later that they’d made headway on an agreement – but he said a deal had not been made. He heaped praise on Putin and declined to point out that his predecessor’s distaste for Putin was prompted by Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Here’s a look at key moments from the Alaska summit.
Trump gives Putin a warm welcome
From start to finish, Trump’s summit with Putin was rife with pomp and circumstance.
A fighter jet escort. Red carpets. A B-2 bomber that flew overhead. Trump clapping as Putin approached, with a grin on his face.
The overjoyed greeting the president offered Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf in Alaska was significantly warmer than the one he received the last time he was in the United States.
On that occasion, a 2015 visit to New York City to attend the United Nations General Assembly, then-President Barack Obama criticized Putin in a speech for annexing Crimea and stoking aggression in eastern Ukraine.
When they posed for a photo together, Obama gave Putin a perfunctory handshake. “Thank you, everybody,” Obama said. The leaders did not answer reporters’ questions as they walked away.
Putin gets a presidential limousine ride
Nearly a decade later in Alaska, and more than three years into Russia’s full-scale assault on Ukraine, Trump smiled at Putin and clasped the leader’s hand: first on the red carpet, and again on a platform.
Trump and Putin also ignored questions from journalists.
Trump ushered Putin into the U.S. president’s limousine, known as The Beast, and gave him a ride to the meeting site.
Inside the armored vehicle, Putin smiled and waved from behind bulletproof glass.
He grimaced and shook his head at the start of their meeting as reporters peppered them with highly critical questions about his country’s attacks on civilians in Ukraine. A stony-faced Trump sat to his left, his hands clasped between his legs.
Putin has the first – and last word
The leaders met for roughly three hours before they reappeared to make joint remarks.
Putin spoke first.
Then Trump spoke.
“I would like to thank President Putin and his entire team,” Trump said, “whose faces I get to see all the time in the newspapers.”
Trump said Putin’s aides were nearly as famous as the Russian leader. “Especially this one right over here,” Trump said, seemingly referring to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.
Lavrov had been at the summit site earlier in the day wearing a sweatshirt that said CCCP, which stands for USSR in Russian. The move was interpreted as blatant trolling. The discussions were about Ukraine, which is a former Soviet republic.
In wrapping up his remarks. Trump said he hoped to see Putin again “very soon” and thanked him profusely for coming.
“Thank you very much, Vladimir,” Trump said, calling him by his first name.
Putin did not miss a beat.
“Next time in Moscow,” he said.
A skeptical Trump said he’d “get a little heat on that one” but did not rule it out.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Putin spoke first and other key moments from Alaska summit
