President Donald Trump will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in a summit filled with intrigue, fraught with risk and carrying the potential for serious consequences for the future of the grinding war in Ukraine.
Foreign policy experts exclusively tell the Daily Mail that Putin's strategy in Anchorage on Friday will be to isolate Trump from Ukraine and Europe and turn the US from a loyal supporter into a mere bystander.
Whether Trump emerges from the meeting smitten, seething or skeptical will determine whether another meeting's in the cards or if the president has finally reached the end of his patience with Putin's three-and-a-half year invasion.
Given the stakes, experts say it's no surprise the White House is furiously trying to tamp down expectations for any immediate progress and characterizing Friday as 'feel-out' session.
'The Kremlin's strategy in Ukraine is to reduce the conflict into a one-on-one matchup,' said Peter Rough of the Hudson Institute. 'Putin will want to sidestep US sanctions and rebuild relations with Trump ... If he can drive a wedge between the US and Europe, all the better.'
