ANCHORAGE, BRATISLAVA. President of the United States Donald Trump welcomed Russian leader Vladimir Putin directly at the airport, on the red carpet, where they exchanged a few words without an interpreter.

They traveled to the meeting together in a limousine, but the meeting itself ended prematurely. While the red carpet and shared car ride could be interpreted as a series of friendly gestures from Trump towards Putin, the early end of the meeting and the fact that the two leaders did not meet face-to-face may signal an unproductive and cold meeting.

"The Alaska summit was more about symbols than content," says diplomat and former chief of staff to President Zuzana Čaputová Metod Špaček.

According to Špaček, being welcomed directly at the airport is unusual.

"Even our presidents, including President Čaputová, receive visitors only at their own residence or at the meeting place. Only the Holy Father has received such an honor in our country," he reminded.

Did they invite themselves?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is being accompanied by a group of European and international leaders on his current visit to the White House. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb will be in Washington.

Together with them, Zelensky will be accompanied by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Is it possible for seven leaders to be"invited" to the White House?

"It's always about the agreement of the parties involved. In international relations, nothing ever happens that wasn't agreed upon in advance or that both parties don't agree with," says Špaček.

Unexpected events in diplomatic protocol do not happen precisely so that"the content of those meetings has the greatest possible significance," says the diplomat, and therefore they are prepared in advance.

Therefore, according to Špaček, it is not yet clear whether such a major visit was planned after the Alaskan summit or was already in the works earlier.

In such situations, one participant can communicate on behalf of the entire delegation, who will arrange everything with the host party.

Let's not overestimate the red carpet

The welcome of Vladimir Putin at Elmendorf–Richardson Air Force Base brought several interesting moments.

American soldiers rolled out a red carpet in front of Putin's Il-96 plane."Pragmatically, I would neither overestimate nor underestimate the carpet. I have the impression that the Alaskan summit was more about symbols than content, or rather the content is not clear enough," comments Špaček.

According to him, the red carpet is a common protocol expression of respect for the head of another state.

Špaček is rather drawing attention to the context of Putin's welcome - Volodymyr Zelenskyy received the exact opposite in the White House, the previous administration of Joe Biden pursued a policy of isolating Russia as much as possible. Thirdly, there is an arrest warrant issued for Putin by the International Criminal Court, which neither the US nor Russia recognize.

The welcome was above standard

While the red carpet can be considered a protocol standard, what followed was very friendly towards Putin. The fact that Trump did not wait for him at the meeting place, but came to greet him at the airport, is considered by Špaček to be extremely accommodating.

Similarly, the departure, where Trump and Putin sat together in the same limousine, is something that doesn't happen often, according to Špaček.

"In practice, it happens that presidents or other heads of state fly on a shared plane. President Čaputová did it, and certainly President Pellegrini did too. However, I cannot recall a case where someone got into the limousine of another head of state," he comments.

It was also unusual that at the joint press conference, guest Putin spoke first, followed by host Trump. Normally, the order is the opposite.

"I don't know if it was a conscious change," says Špaček. According to him, the sudden change in the program, when the originally planned one-on-one meeting with interpreters did not take place, had a very bad effect.

According to Špaček, such a meeting is very important in order to measure the quality of relations between two states. The longer it lasts, the more it looks like even complicated matters are being resolved.

"I remember the meeting between Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič and Hungarian President János Áder. It was scheduled for half an hour and lasted an hour and a half. Everyone evaluated it as an indicator of quality relations. In Alaska, on the contrary, it was canceled, which is a very strange signal," says Špaček.

It is not clear why the summit program was changed; in addition to the one-on-one meeting, a joint lunch was also canceled, which complicated the organization.

Airplanes belong on display

In Anchorage, in addition to a friendly Trump, Putin was also greeted by a flyover of military aircraft led by a B-2 bomber; fighter jets were also parked on the airport apron.

Several experts interpreted the aircraft's flight as a display of American dominance and power towards Putin. Metod Špaček also joins them.

"I think it comes from some idea on Trump's part about how to negotiate with a partner. In reality, military aircraft flyovers belong to military parades or ceremonial events. They don't usually show up during visits by heads of state because it's a sign of dominance," he thinks.

Alaska was not used wisely

The choice of Alaska as the summit location has several dimensions.

This is a former Russian territory that the United States purchased from Tsarist Russia in 1867. Russian media emphasized that it was far from Europe and from any third parties to the conflict except the United States.

However, Špaček points out that the topic of Alaska was very cleverly used by Russian propaganda, and the choice of location made the trip much easier for Putin, who thus flew only over Russian territory. He did not have to fly a complicated route that would have avoided countries that do not allow Russian aircraft to fly over.

Sergei Lavrov and the USSR

Before meeting with Trump, the Russian Foreign Minister showed up wearing a T-shirt with the words USSR (CCCP in Cyrillic), a reference to the Soviet Union.

"I think that's an underestimation of the information bubble in which Putin's regime operates. The election of Alaska was a disservice. Russian propaganda was very good at using it to legitimize its own regime. On the other hand, it's a mockery of the West," says the diplomat.

According to him, the United States has partly driven itself into its own trap by choosing Alaska.

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