Given what little we know so far about President Donald Trump's upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, which many believe has already been declared a victory for Putin, what aspects do you think are the most important? For example, why was Alaska chosen, which Russia once sold to the United States, and is there any symbolic subtext to it?

This meeting can indeed be considered a tactical victory for Putin, if only because this summit was announced instead of strengthening secondary sanctions. Secondly, Putin's victory is that this summit is, at least for now, bilateral, that [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky will not be there, that Putin will be able to stand next to Trump as equals. And, thirdly, that this summit will take place in the United States - the American president, the leader of the free world, who is currently perceived as such a little less, is hosting a dictator who has been declared an international wanted man. Regarding the former Russian territory of Alaska as the chosen meeting place, Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov has said that it is a very logical choice, because the Russian delegation only has to fly over the Bering Strait. The Bering Strait, of course, is symbolic. It was about ten years ago when Putin asked a little boy, apparently a participant in a geography Olympiad, where Russia ended, to which the boy replied that it was at the Bering Strait. And Putin, laughing, replied that Russia doesn't end anywhere.

You mentioned the dominant argument that makes Ukraine and Europe alarmed about this meeting, that it is bilateral. The impression that the leaders of two superpowers are deciding the fate of Ukraine behind their backs.