Putin Seeks Both Ukraine Ceasefire and US Economic Ties: Expert

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At the Alaska Summit, Russian President aims to balance war-ending optics with deepening US trade links

By TRH Global Affairs Desk

New Delhi, August 15, 2025 — Russian President Vladimir Putin is entering the Alaska Summit with two parallel goals — seeking a pathway to end the Ukraine conflict while deepening economic ties with the United States — according to John Kavulich, Senior Editor at Al Arabiya English.

Speaking ahead of the high-stakes meeting, Kavulich said Putin will arrive with a large delegation of Russian business leaders, suggesting a strong interest in trade and investment opportunities. But the Russian leader is also keen to find a resolution to the ongoing war, which continues to weigh on his country’s economy.

“President Putin still wants Ukraine — true — but he doesn’t have the capacity to conquer it as he attempted on February 24, 2022,” Kavulich noted. He further explained that “ending in some way what’s happening in Ukraine is incredibly important to him because it is weighing on their economy. The economy isn’t crashing, but it’s in a slow burn.”

Kavulich stressed that while Russia retains the capacity to inflict “a lot of damage” on Ukraine, the costs are mounting. This makes a negotiated outcome — potentially via a ceasefire proposed by US President Donald Trump — an attractive option for Putin, provided it can be presented without the optics of retreat.

“A lot of this is about performance and optics in terms of who looks like they’re retreating,” he said, adding: “No one wants to look like they’re backing down.”

The Alaska Summit will see political leaders and business figures from both nations, in what could become a pivotal moment in reshaping US-Russia relations while testing the limits of diplomacy over Ukraine.

Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton has cautioned that Russian President Vladimir Putin may deploy “KGB training” tactics to win over Donald Trump during negotiations on Ukraine, even as Moscow pushes for last-minute territorial gains.

Speaking to CNN, Bolton — who served in the Trump administration and was present at the 2018 Helsinki summit between the two leaders — said Putin is likely to present a peace plan “that looks sincere” but is aimed at bringing Trump “back on his side.”

On the Alaska Summit, Boltan was cautious in his expectations. “I think Putin has the initiative here,” Bolton said, adding: “He’s going to try to make this a bigger discussion than Ukraine — from rare earth investments to oil projects — and even propose early talks on a successor to the New START nuclear treaty, which expires in 2026. Trump would jump at that.”

Bolton suggested that any such overtures could be part of a broader Russian strategy to reshape the diplomatic field, while battlefield activity in eastern Ukraine may be intended to strengthen Moscow’s hand. CNN has reported that Russian troops have penetrated parts of Ukraine’s eastern defences, possibly to “shape the battlefield” before the summit.

On the possibility of a Trump-mediated meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “almost immediately” after the summit, Bolton was skeptical. He argued that Ukraine should avoid agreeing to a ceasefire before negotiations, warning it could lock in Russian territorial gains and leave “20% of Ukraine” behind new demarcation lines.

“This is a trap for Ukraine,” Bolton said. “If they negotiate after a ceasefire, that line becomes the new Russian Ukrainian border — and that’s not a good look for Ukraine.”

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