In Alaska, the US and Russian presidents did not talk only about the war in Ukraine, experts suggest. They probably also talked about the economy, cooperation in space and the Arctic.
Talks between the United States and Russia in recent months have clearly touched not only on the war in Ukraine, but also on cooperation between Moscow and Washington in a wide range of areas. Sources from both delegations mentioned that trade and economic issues were discussed, as well as joint projects in the Arctic and space.
What Trump and Putin talk about behind closed doors
US President Donald Trump has been drawing up prospects for relations between the United States and Russia for months. The first talks between delegations from both countries began in February 2025, less than a month after Trump took office as US president for the second time.
In the series of meetings that followed, the highlight was Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Alaska for talks with Donald Trump on August 15. The talks in the "three-on-three" format (Putin, Lavrov and Ushakov on one side and Trump, Rubio and Witkoff on the other) lasted almost three hours, but did not lead to peace in Ukraine.
Mikhail Alekseev, a professor of political science at the University of San Diego, believes that the main motive of the meeting in Alaska may not have been what everyone expected. "Given how much time they spent talking, as well as the composition of the participants in the meeting, it may turn out that the issue of Ukraine was not the main one at all," Alekseev told DW. "The main thing may have been to find a solution on how to reopen Russia for business, how to ensure profits for American companies through economic cooperation with Russia in the future, and then to see what offer to make to Ukraine to stop the war and continue work on this issue."
Russian exports to the US are growing despite the war in Ukraine
Economic cooperation between the US and Russia has fallen significantly over the years of the war against Ukraine. Bilateral trade has decreased by about 90 percent - from $17.4 billion in 2021 to $2.8 billion in 2024. At the same time, in the first six months of this year, since Donald Trump became US president again, bilateral trade has increased by 32 percent compared to the first half of last year.
The overwhelming part of this trade is Russian exports to the US, mainly fertilizers. In the first half of this year, the United States bought $927 million worth of fertilizers from Russia. According to CNN, the United States is particularly dependent on imports of three types of fertilizers from Russia: urea, liquid ammonium nitrate and potassium chloride.
The second largest import is uranium and plutonium. In the first six months of 2025, the United States paid Russia about $755 million for their supplies, compared to $624 million for the whole of last year. In third place is palladium, for which the US paid $594 million in the first six months of the year (compared to $878 million for the whole of last year).
Friendship in Space and the START-3 Treaty
American political analyst Alexandra Filipenko draws attention to the fact that it is too early to talk about thawing relations between the US and Russia.
"There is still no new US ambassador to Russia, and the approval of the Russian ambassador to the US, Alexander Darchiev, took a long time. All talks about joint projects - from hockey matches to film screenings - are not going well, since the work of the embassies is currently not regulated. Therefore, from the outside, the situation may look one way, but in reality it may be completely different," she points out.
At the same time, Filipenko believes that Russia and the US have two promising areas of cooperation. First of all, these are joint projects in space. At the end of July, the head of "Roscosmos" Dmitry Bakanov met with the leadership of NASA. - the first meeting between the heads of the American and Russian space agencies in the last seven years.
The second area is cooperation in the field of strategic offensive weapons. The START-3 treaty on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive weapons expires in February next year. Last month, Donald Trump said that he wants to include not only Russia, but also China in the arms limitation.
What position will Europe take?
While the US under Trump is seeking to restore ties with Russia, which were severed over the war in Ukraine, the EU sees the Russian Federation as a source of danger. On the eve of her meeting with Donald Trump this week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that a 19th package of sanctions against Russia is being prepared.
Experts told DW that the EU is unlikely to follow the US example and start restoring business ties with Russia. "I think other Western countries will be much more skeptical and are much less likely to follow Trump", says British political scientist Jenny Mathers. According to her, this would likely lead to a serious rift between the US and many of its Western allies.