US President Donald Trump twice forgot he was meeting Vladimir Putin in Alaska, repeatedly saying he was "going to Russia" instead. The verbal gaffe occurred during a Monday press conference where Trump announced deploying the National Guard to Washington DC, as Metro reports.
"I'm going to Russia on Friday," Trump told reporters, despite having announced on Truth Social that the meeting would take place in Alaska. He repeated the mistake later in the same press conference, saying "we're going to Russia" when referring to the upcoming summit, according to the Independent.
Historic diplomatic meeting
The Trump-Putin summit is scheduled for Friday, August 15, 2025, in Alaska and will mark the first meeting between US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Switzerland in 2021. The BBC reports that Trump characterised it as a "feel-out meeting" and mentioned potential "land-swapping" discussions regarding Ukraine.
Putin faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, adding legal complexity to the diplomatic encounter, as the Independent notes. US Attorney General Pam Bondi and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth flanked Trump during the press conference but showed no visible reaction to his geographical confusion.
Ukraine war focus
The meeting aims to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, with Trump promising to help Ukraine recover territory from Russia. "Russia's occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They occupied prime territory. We're going to try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine," he said, according to Metro.
Russian special economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev praised Alaska as the venue choice, writing that the state "echoes those ties and makes the US an Arctic nation" due to its history as "Russian America" before the 1867 purchase, the Independent reported.
Symbolic significance
Alaska's selection carries particular weight given its Russian heritage until America bought the territory in 1867. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski expressed cautious optimism about the summit while maintaining wariness of Putin's regime, as reported by Metro.
Sources used: "Metro", "Independent", "BBC"
Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
