Russian invasion Negotiations

Editor: Concerns are exaggerated – Putin and Trump are unlikely to reach an agreement

The Swedish editorial pages have started to load up ahead of the summit between Russia and the US in Alaska on Friday.

SvD's Olof Ehrenkrona writes that Trump is about to waltz into a diplomatic trap set by Russia. The effect if Trump makes an agreement directly with Putin could be devastating not only for Ukraine and Europe, he writes.

"Geopolitically, the US will be isolated and lack friends. The country will be like an old male predator that can no longer participate in the defense of the flock."

In DI, Frida Wallnor turns the tables and believes that critics are unnecessarily nervous.

"That Friday's meeting would end in a Russian-American agreement on how the Ukrainian territory should be divided must be described as highly unlikely," she writes.

More likely, according to Wallnor, is that it will be “a kind of kick-off meeting” that could eventually lead to more concrete talks that also include Ukraine.

Confusion in Alaska: Where will Trump and Putin meet?

With three days left until the summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, many in Alaska are wondering where the world leaders will be staying. The local newspaper Anchorage Daily News has contacted local politicians and the White House but has not been able to get any clarity.

The newspaper’s only clue is that it has been confirmed that the airspace over Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage, will be closed for much of Friday.

Judging by history, the meeting could take place at one of Alaska’s major airports. In 1971, Richard Nixon held a summit with Japanese Emperor Hirohito at an air base in Anchorage. Ronald Reagan met Pope John Paul II at the Fairbanks International Airport.