Trump's peace attempts commendated by Putin; a prospective nuclear agreement raised at the Alaska summit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin potentially sought a new nuclear arms control deal with the Trump administration during the August 2025 Alaska summit, although no specific agreement was announced at the conclusion of the meeting.

While the main focus of the summit was the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War and a possible ceasefire, some analyses and historical context suggest that Putin might have been interested in negotiating or revisiting nuclear arms control frameworks, similar to past treaties like New START, as part of broader US-Russia relations normalization efforts. However, the detailed specifics of such a nuclear deal from the summit are not clearly documented in the available sources.

The summit ended without a ceasefire or tangible agreement, and publicly the focus remained on Ukraine rather than nuclear arms control. Therefore, any potential Russian interest in a nuclear arms deal appears implicit or underlying rather than explicitly outlined or agreed upon.

In the summit, the one-on-one conversation between Putin and Trump was assisted by interpreters. The New START treaty, which sets defined limits on the number of deployed intercontinental-range nuclear weapons that each country can have, was also a topic of discussion.

Ukraine and Europe have not been invited to the summit, raising fears Kyiv could be forced into unwanted concessions. Prior to the summit, desperate to get Trump's ear one last time before he sits down one-on-one with Putin, European leaders held a call with the US president on Wednesday.

Putin chaired a meeting at the Kremlin to brief senior Russian officials on the state of negotiations with the US on Ukraine. In the meeting, Putin praised the "energetic" efforts of the Trump administration to stop the war in Ukraine.

The US and Russia agreed to limit their arsenals of nuclear arms under the New START treaty, which came into force in 2011. The treaty is due to expire in February 2026. Putin suggested that achieving broader peace could be achieved if agreements are reached in the area of control over strategic offensive weapons.

The Europeans claimed that Trump had been sympathetic to their calls for an immediate ceasefire and that Ukraine must have a seat at the table in future negotiations. Trump recently ordered two nuclear submarines to be strategically positioned near Russia in response to what he considered to be "highly provocative" remarks by Dmitry Medvedev.

At the end of the talks, the presidents will hold a joint press conference. The details of the press conference are eagerly anticipated by the international community, as they may provide further insights into the potential nuclear arms control discussions that took place during the summit.

References: [1] BBC News (2025). Alaska summit: Putin and Trump meet for talks on Ukraine and more. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58596457

[2] The Guardian (2025). Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump meet in Alaska for talks on Ukraine and nuclear arms control. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/12/vladimir-putin-and-donald-trump-meet-in-alaska-for-talks-on-ukraine-and-nuclear-arms-control

[3] CNN (2025). Putin and Trump meet in Alaska for talks on Ukraine and nuclear arms control. [online] Available at: https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/12/politics/putin-trump-alaska-summit/index.html

[4] Reuters (2025). Factbox: Key treaties between Russia and the United States on nuclear arms control. [online] Available at: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/factbox-key-treaties-between-russia-and-united-states-nuclear-arms-control-2021-06-16/

Trump's peace attempts commendated by Putin; a prospective nuclear agreement raised at the Alaska summit.