The Alaska summit is presented by Moscow as a kind of demonstration of world order - the two great powers Russia and the United States are coming together to determine the fate of the world.
In reality, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin is at a dead end - with limited financial resources, and his maximalist ambitions in Ukraine are facing failure.
His war aimed to destroy Kiev's sovereignty, but years later, the gains for Russia are minimal, and the country's economy is under severe pressure. Thus begins the analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force of the Diplomatic Service of the European Union on the current propaganda campaigns of the Kremlin before the meeting in Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
The thief cries: "Hold the thief"
The Russian propaganda machine has a simple approach: it loudly accuses the European Union (EU) and Ukraine of not seeking peace, while the Kremlin does exactly what it accuses others of. In recent days, numerous messages have appeared online that the EU is sabotaging the negotiations in Alaska. The truth is that the negotiations are being blocked by Russia, which refuses to compromise, sets unacceptable conditions and continues the attacks, making a peaceful solution impossible.
Another part of the Russian propaganda messages tries to present Putin as a peacemaker. In fact, however, his regime has mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to the front, ignited a bloody war and continues to bomb civilian infrastructure in order to collapse the economy and spirit of Ukraine. Russia is the aggressor, not the peace broker.
The EU has also been accused of unlawful interference. Yet it is Russia that invaded a foreign country, destroyed cities, and caused a major geopolitical crisis.
Another favorite thesis of Russian propaganda is that the European Union is irrelevant and cannot exert influence. In fact, however, it is the EU that is Ukraine's biggest supporter - a major donor of financial, military, and humanitarian aid. EU sanctions have seriously reduced Russia's oil revenues and depleted its foreign exchange reserves. Without this support, the Russian military machine would be far stronger.
The bad experience of the negotiations so far
Moscow has a long history of covering up its insincere negotiations with disinformation campaigns. In 2014-2015, Russia signed the Minsk agreements, but quickly violated the ceasefire and began spreading lies about Ukraine and the West. Despite clear evidence, the Kremlin denied its ties to pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk and blamed Western leaders, part of a well-established propaganda script that has been followed ever since.
A similar tactic was used during the peace talks in Istanbul in March 2022, when it launched a campaign of false claims that Western leaders - most notably then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson - had sabotaged the talks.
Although these stories have been repeatedly refuted, the Kremlin continues to repeat them. In reality, the negotiations were undermined by Russia’s own actions—including the Bucha massacre, its maximalist demands, and the low-level delegation it sent, which showed a lack of genuine readiness for peace.
Loud accusations and concealed weaknesses
Projecting blame is a favorite tactic of Kremlin propaganda—to portray itself as strong and reasonable and others as weak, chaotic, or hostile. But the reality is that Putin’s grand ambitions are falling apart.
Russia is mired in a costly impasse, its military is exhausted, its economy is floundering, and its military successes pale in comparison.
In other words, the Kremlin’s loud accusations and disinformation campaigns are just a smokescreen covering up its own crimes and failures. Unraveling this mechanism is key to understanding what is really behind the Alaskan meeting - and what is happening on the battlefield in Ukraine.