US Says Putin To Be First Russian Leader to Visit Alaska

President Vladimir Putin will be the first Russian leader to visit the US state of Alaska, according to data from the US Department of State, The Caspian Post reports, citing TASS.

Nikita Khrushchev, first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and chairman of the Council of Ministers, was the first Soviet leader to make an official visit to the United States back in 1959. During his trip, which lasted almost two weeks, he went to Washington and the US presidential residence in Camp David. Khrushchev was followed by Council of Ministers Chairman Alexey Kosygin (1967), and Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev (1973). Mikhail Gorbachev visited the US in 1987, 1988 and 1990.

Russia’s first President Boris Yeltsin met with his US counterpart George H. W. Bush in Camp David in 1992. Later, he made another four visits to the United States: in 1992, 1994, 1995 and 1997.

Putin first made a trip to the US on September 6-7, 2000, taking part in the United Nations’ Millennium Summit held as part of the 55th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. After that, Putin visited the US six more times, with the last time being in 2015. Dmitry Medvedev visited the US six times as Russia’s president and once as prime minister.

US President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he expected to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15. Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov confirmed later that the meeting was scheduled to be held in Alaska next Friday.