A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Preparations are underway in Alaska for a summit between President Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It will be their first meeting of Trump's second term and comes as Ukraine's leader raises alarms that Russia may be planning a new offensive in the fall. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is downplaying the chances of a breakthrough, describing the summit as a, quote, "listening exercise."
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KAROLINE LEAVITT: So this is for the president to go and to get a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith is traveling today to Alaska, joins us now before heading to the airport. So, Tam, I mean, it's a listening exercise. At this point, though, what are the expectations for this meeting?
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: There was a time last week before the summit was actually announced when White House statements made it seemed like a trilateral meeting, including Trump, Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from Ukraine was being considered. But when Trump announced the details on Friday, it was just a bilateral meeting with Putin. Trump has made no secret of his desire to be the one to broker the deal to end the fighting in Ukraine. But by Monday morning, Trump was saying, this is just a, quote, "feel-out meeting." So in yesterday's briefing, after Leavitt called it a listening exercise, I asked about expectations.
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KEITH: Last week, the meeting with Putin was sort of described potentially as an opportunity for a deal. Now it's a feeling out. Has there been a shift in expectations within the White House or an effort to temper expectations about what success looks like for this meeting?
LEAVITT: I mean, look, I think both can be true, right? The president has always said he wants a peace deal. He wants to see this war come to an end. But this bilateral meeting is a bilateral meeting between one party in this two-party war.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. So if Trump can't make a deal with only one party, then what's the point, Tam, of flying all the way to Alaska for a face-to-face meeting?
KEITH: President Trump is meeting virtually with Zelenskyy and European leaders ahead of the summit and has also said he'll speak to them right after his meeting with Putin. Leavitt was asked why Zelenskyy isn't coming to the summit, and she said the meeting came about because Putin asked for a meeting with Trump. So she says Trump agreed to the meeting and is, quote, "honored" to host Putin on American soil.
Trump has complained recently that Putin tells him he wants peace when they talk on the phone but then turns around and bombs Ukraine. So Leavitt said there's value in Trump sitting down face-to-face with Putin and taking a measure of his seriousness. But critics say meeting with Putin without real preconditions rewards Putin for malign behavior as he continues to wage a war he started. And they say there's a risk that Putin gets Trump to take a position that disadvantages Ukraine and European allies.
MARTÍNEZ: I got to admit, Tam, I mean, I am a little interested to see what happens on Friday. Any more details about what to expect?
KEITH: I, too, am interested to see how this plays out. A reminder that this is a major summit that is being thrown together in about a week. What we know is that they will meet in Anchorage, Alaska, and there will be a one-on-one component with Trump and Putin meeting without their larger delegations. That is something that they did in Trump's first term that generated a lot of controversy because normally there are note takers, even in more intimate meetings between leaders. And Leavitt said she expects President Trump will take questions from reporters once the meeting is over. As for whether Putin will join him for that press conference, the White House didn't have an answer on that yet.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's Tamara Keith. Thanks a lot.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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