In the early years of Vladimir Putin’s 25-year rule, bilateral meetings with his American counterparts were frequent. Over time, however—especially after the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and accusations of interference in the 2016 US presidential election—contacts became rarer and noticeably cooler. Today, for the first time in years, Putin will meet Donald Trump on American soil, in Alaska.

Putin and Joe Biden
The two met in person only once – in Geneva in June 2021. At the time, Russia was massing troops on Ukraine’s border, and the US was accusing Moscow of cyberattacks. The Kremlin was tightening its repression—opposition leader Alexei Navalny was already in prison, and protests demanding his release had been brutally suppressed.

The talks in Geneva lasted three hours without a major breakthrough. The two leaders exchanged polite statements about “mutual respect” but underlined their diametrically opposed positions.

This was followed by a videoconference in December 2021 and a phone call in February 2022, just days before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since the start of the war, there have been no publicly disclosed contacts between them.

Putin and Donald Trump
In Trump’s first term, the two met six times—at and on the sidelines of G20 and APEC gatherings. The most memorable was in Helsinki in July 2018, when Trump publicly cast doubt on the findings of his own intelligence agencies about Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying he believed Putin’s denials.

“I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump said at the time.

Since Trump’s return to the White House this year, the two have held around six publicly acknowledged telephone conversations.

Putin and Barack Obama
Obama met with Putin nine times and with Dmitry Medvedev another 12. During Medvedev’s presidency (2008–2012), Washington and Moscow spoke of a “reset” in relations and worked on arms control agreements. It was then that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Sergey Lavrov with a symbolic “reset” button—but with an incorrect Russian translation, reading “overload” instead of “reset.”

After Putin’s formal return to the Kremlin in 2012, tensions rose. Obama canceled a planned visit to Moscow in 2013 after Russia granted asylum to Edward Snowden.

The annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the war in Donbas led to heavy Western sanctions and a collapse in relations. Russia’s military intervention in Syria in 2015 further strained the dialogue. Their last meeting was in China in September 2016.

Putin and George W. Bush
Putin and Bush met 28 times. Their first meeting in 2001 prompted Bush to say he had “looked the man in the eye” and “got a sense of his soul.” In 2002, they signed the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), cutting their strategic nuclear arsenals.

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Putin was the first world leader to call Bush to express condolences and support. He allowed US forces to use military bases in Central Asia for operations in Afghanistan.

Putin called Bush “a decent person and a good friend,” emphasizing that good relations with him helped find a way out of “the most acute and conflict situations.”

Putin and Bill Clinton
Clinton visited Moscow in June 2000, a month after Putin took office. They held a one-on-one meeting, an informal dinner, toured the Kremlin, and attended a jazz concert. Their agenda included arms control, the crisis in the North Caucasus, and the situation in the Balkans.

At a press conference the next day, Clinton said that Russia under Putin “has the chance to build prosperity and strength, while safeguarding that freedom and the rule of law.”

The two met three more times in 2000—at the G8 in Japan, at the UN Millennium Summit in New York, and at APEC in Brunei.

In an interview last year, Putin revealed that in 2000 he had asked Clinton whether Russia could join NATO. According to Putin, the initial response was “Yes, interesting,” but later the US president rejected the idea. Putin used the story to underline his point that the West had no intention of integrating Russia. | BGNES, PBS