Digest of Russian media
Matryoshkas, Baseball and TikTok: How the Russian Media Covered the Trump-Putin Meeting in Alaska
August 22, 2025
Vladimir Putin’s meeting in Alaska with Donald Trump was a major event in the Russian media. More than 50 reporters from Russian outlets flew to the US to cover the summit, which they were quick to label “historic.”
According to the independent news site Meduza, pro-Kremlin and state-controlled journalists were given a set of guidelines on how to frame the coverage. They emphasized that “no deal on Ukraine” was ever on the table. They also pushed reporters to stress that Putin had “restored Russia’s status as a great superpower” and met the US president “as an equal,” and that Russia and the US “have much to offer each other.”
On state television, Channel One aired footage of planes with Russian flags landing in Alaska, calling the sight “absolutely incredible,” since direct flights between the US and Russia were suspended after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later told NBC News that because of sanctions, Russian cards were blocked and the delegation had to offer cash to refuel its planes.
Moreover, Anchorage hotels fully booked, and Russian reporters had to be housed inside a sports arena. Andrei Kolesnikov, a veteran journalist with the daily Kommersant, compared the atmosphere to makeshift Covid-era hospitals.
“Some people looked so shocked – I thought, where are the ICU beds and ventilators?” he wrote.
Putin himself, just before the summit, made a rather random stop in the Russian city of Magadan at a fish oil processing plant, which surprised everyone, including the reporters. Kolesnikov wrote cryptically: “there was something about that, but what exactly [no one knows].”
In the days that followed, Russian media focused on the summit’s aftermath. Pro-Kremlin news station Ren TV contrasted Putin’s welcome with European leaders’, noting that while Trump personally flew to Alaska and rolled out the red carpet for the Russian president, other leaders were welcomed “on the White House steps.”
The anchor also expressed hope for future US-Russia cooperation.
“Trump and his team clearly know and remember history better than many of their predecessors, and this gives us a chance to change a lot,” he host.
The channel also filmed in an Anchorage souvenir shop, pointing out matryoshka dolls for sale and even a Soviet T-shirt like the one worn by Foreign Minister Lavrov.
Novaya Gazeta, the independent newspaper, published a very different report from the US. Its journalists had gone to Cleveland, Ohio. They highlighted how little attention ordinary Americans paid to the summit. On the evening of the Anchorage meeting, Cleveland residents were more worried about baseball and expressed very little trust in Trump or Putin.
“So it’s no surprise that of the nearly 30 people I asked what they thought of the Putin-Trump talks, at least 25 said they did not trust a word their president said. Nor did they trust ours,” wrote Novaya Gazeta.
Speaking about the outcome of the summit, Rossiya 24, another state broadcaster, showed TikTok clips of Putin and Trump walking together while a love song played with the lyrics: “in this world, there is no meaning without you.” The original TikTok had gone viral with over 18 million views and 2.5 million likes within days.
Later, after Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund chief Kirill Dmitriev posted a Simpsons-style meme on Instagram. It showed a picture of Simsons-ized Trump and Zelensky standing next to a map of Ukraine with the occupied territories labeled “Russia.”
Moskovsky Komsomolets, a pro-Kremlin daily, posted an analysis of the summit that Ukraine’s fate is now in the hands of Moscow and Washington.
“Ukraine’s future no longer depends on its own will, but on its ability to adapt to a new geopolitical reality,” it said, presenting Alaska as a turning point where Kyiv was effectively sidelined.
Komsomolskaya Pravda, another pro-Kremlin daily, took a different angle, publishing a piece speculating whether Trump might “go to heaven” for his peace efforts. The paper even sought comment from a Russian Orthodox priest.
“There is nothing wrong with seeking heavenly reward for peacemaking,” the priest said, “though it would be better to speak more modestly; to speak about saving the soul and coming closer to Christ.”
According to the independent news site Meduza, pro-Kremlin and state-controlled journalists were given a set of guidelines on how to frame the coverage. They emphasized that “no deal on Ukraine” was ever on the table. They also pushed reporters to stress that Putin had “restored Russia’s status as a great superpower” and met the US president “as an equal,” and that Russia and the US “have much to offer each other.”
On state television, Channel One aired footage of planes with Russian flags landing in Alaska, calling the sight “absolutely incredible,” since direct flights between the US and Russia were suspended after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later told NBC News that because of sanctions, Russian cards were blocked and the delegation had to offer cash to refuel its planes.
Moreover, Anchorage hotels fully booked, and Russian reporters had to be housed inside a sports arena. Andrei Kolesnikov, a veteran journalist with the daily Kommersant, compared the atmosphere to makeshift Covid-era hospitals.
“Some people looked so shocked – I thought, where are the ICU beds and ventilators?” he wrote.
Putin himself, just before the summit, made a rather random stop in the Russian city of Magadan at a fish oil processing plant, which surprised everyone, including the reporters. Kolesnikov wrote cryptically: “there was something about that, but what exactly [no one knows].”
In the days that followed, Russian media focused on the summit’s aftermath. Pro-Kremlin news station Ren TV contrasted Putin’s welcome with European leaders’, noting that while Trump personally flew to Alaska and rolled out the red carpet for the Russian president, other leaders were welcomed “on the White House steps.”
The anchor also expressed hope for future US-Russia cooperation.
“Trump and his team clearly know and remember history better than many of their predecessors, and this gives us a chance to change a lot,” he host.
The channel also filmed in an Anchorage souvenir shop, pointing out matryoshka dolls for sale and even a Soviet T-shirt like the one worn by Foreign Minister Lavrov.
Novaya Gazeta, the independent newspaper, published a very different report from the US. Its journalists had gone to Cleveland, Ohio. They highlighted how little attention ordinary Americans paid to the summit. On the evening of the Anchorage meeting, Cleveland residents were more worried about baseball and expressed very little trust in Trump or Putin.
“So it’s no surprise that of the nearly 30 people I asked what they thought of the Putin-Trump talks, at least 25 said they did not trust a word their president said. Nor did they trust ours,” wrote Novaya Gazeta.
Speaking about the outcome of the summit, Rossiya 24, another state broadcaster, showed TikTok clips of Putin and Trump walking together while a love song played with the lyrics: “in this world, there is no meaning without you.” The original TikTok had gone viral with over 18 million views and 2.5 million likes within days.
Later, after Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund chief Kirill Dmitriev posted a Simpsons-style meme on Instagram. It showed a picture of Simsons-ized Trump and Zelensky standing next to a map of Ukraine with the occupied territories labeled “Russia.”
Moskovsky Komsomolets, a pro-Kremlin daily, posted an analysis of the summit that Ukraine’s fate is now in the hands of Moscow and Washington.
“Ukraine’s future no longer depends on its own will, but on its ability to adapt to a new geopolitical reality,” it said, presenting Alaska as a turning point where Kyiv was effectively sidelined.
Komsomolskaya Pravda, another pro-Kremlin daily, took a different angle, publishing a piece speculating whether Trump might “go to heaven” for his peace efforts. The paper even sought comment from a Russian Orthodox priest.
“There is nothing wrong with seeking heavenly reward for peacemaking,” the priest said, “though it would be better to speak more modestly; to speak about saving the soul and coming closer to Christ.”
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Sofia Sorochinskaia
Russia.Post
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