The meeting between Russian and US President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, scheduled for August 15, will be held at Elmendorf-Richardson Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska.
This was reported by CNN, citing White House officials.
According to the television channel, American representatives have recently faced a serious problem in finding a place for the summit. It turned out that due to the peak tourist season in Alaska, there are practically no accessible and suitable places to hold the summit. After considering options in Juneau, Anchorage and Fairbanks, organizers concluded that only Anchorage had the appropriate facilities.
Sources note that the White House had hoped to avoid holding a meeting with the Russian leader at a US military facility. However, Elmendorf-Richardson turned out to be the only place that met all the requirements for holding the historic meeting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's security in Alaska will be ensured not only by his personal security, but also by US Secret Service agents. This was confirmed to TASS on Tuesday by former senior US Secret Service official Robert McDonald.
„When President Putin arrives in the United States, he will have his usual personal security from Russia. But he will also have personal security from the US Secret Service. We do not want anything to happen to President Putin when he is here. Just like the Russian authorities wouldn't want anything to happen to President Trump if he was in Russia," McDonald said.
He also said that in the past he was one of the security guards who accompanied US President George W. Bush on visits to Russia and other countries. "I was the agent responsible for [Bush Jr.'s] security at the Astoria Hotel in St. Petersburg," McDonald said. He noted that at that time he was in close contact with colleagues from Russian intelligence services. "We have developed a professional relationship and we have been working in harmony with each other for a week," McDonald said.
“At a working level, there is a professional relationship between the officials of the relevant authorities on the ground. They work very well together, in complete harmony with each other. And they are able to put aside political differences. "I am absolutely confident in that," added the current professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the private University of New Haven (Connecticut).