By Dmitry Antonov
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will discuss the “huge untapped potential” for Russia-U.S. economic ties as well as the prospects for ending the war in Ukraine when they meet in Alaska on Friday, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
Ushakov told reporters that the summit would start at 1930 GMT, with the two leaders meeting one-on-one, accompanied only by translators.
He said delegations from the two countries would then meet and have a working lunch, and the presidents would give a joint news conference.
Trump and Putin agreed last week to hold the meeting – the first summit between their countries since Putin met Joe Biden in June 2021 – as the U.S. president presses for an end to the 3-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine.
Ushakov said it was “obvious to everyone” that Ukraine would be the focus of the meeting, but broader security and international issues would also be discussed.
He added: “An exchange of views is expected on further developing bilateral cooperation, including in the trade and economic sphere. I would like to note that this cooperation has huge, and unfortunately hitherto untapped, potential.”
Ushakov, who is Putin’s foreign policy adviser, said the other members of the Russian delegation would be Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, writing by Mark Trevelyan)
