In the early hours of Saturday morning following a summit in Alaska between the leaders of Russia and the United States, senior politicians in Moscow were quick to trumpet the meeting as a win for Russia and its narrative of the war in Ukraine.

Russian officials and pundits hailed the Alaska summit as a success, praising President Trump for re-engaging Russian President Vladimir Putin in diplomacy without making unrealistic demands. They also said warming U.

FILE PHOTO: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov walks ahead of a joint press conference by U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S., August 15, 2025. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File photo

At what was billed as an “historic” presidential summit, hastily put together in Alaska on Friday afternoon, the optics were as clear and overshadowing as the vast Chugach mountains glistening over Anchorage in the summer sun.

Russian media has lavished attention on the summit, hailing it as a win for Moscow and a proof of the country’s diplomatic revival. Pro-Kremlin outlets, which dispatched dozens of reporters to the U.S.