Over the past ten days, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, and Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov have made pointed comments questioning whether there was anything left of the “Alaska Understandings” between presidents Trump and Putin—referring to the Aug. 15, 2025 summit of the two leaders in Anchorage, Alaska, which established some level of agreement on steps towards a peaceful solution to the Ukraine war. Now Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, who also heads leading Russian analytical and advisory institutions, has published an article in Kommersant, translated and further circulated by RT, headlined “Why the Alaska understandings no longer matter.”
Lukyanov began by taking note of “the exchange between Sergey Lavrov and Marco Rubio over whether agreements were reached in Alaska last year, or whether proposals were merely put forward,” and then made the point that Trump tried and failed to convince “Kiev and Western Europe” (London would have been more accurate—ed.) to go along with the approach. Trump was arguing that Kiev was fighting a losing war, so why keep fighting?
“The task for Kiev and the collective leadership in Brussels was therefore to convince Trump that his certainty about Ukraine’s doom was mistaken,” Lukyanov continued. “Ten months after Anchorage, they appear to have succeeded… Russia has made gains, but not the kind of breakthrough that would settle the argument in Washington.” The bottom line is that the Anchorage understandings “aren’t, however, a reliable starting point for a new diplomatic process.”
Lukyanov thinks, however, that “Western Europe’s jubilation” that “Trump is now on our side” is premature. He asserts that “the Russian side hasn’t abandoned the view that, unlike a completely hopeless Western Europe, Washington can still play a useful role. That’s correct, but first, the White House must be brought back to the realization that a military victory for Russia’s opponents is impossible. Otherwise, any ‘spirit’ of Anchorage will remain nothing more than a hollow phrase.”
