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VLADIMIR Putin will jet to Alaska for a historic summit with President Trump on Friday to seek an end to the war – but he does so as a wanted criminal.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) slapped him with an arrest warrant in 2023 over allegations of war crimes – so the “billion-dollar question” is: can Putin be cuffed in Alaska?
Putin would in theory be nabbed if he were to visit any of 125 countries around the world – including the UK, France, Germany and Canada.
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon told The Sun that the United States is among the minority of countries which does not recognise the rule of the ICC.
The States sit among the ranks of Russia, China, Pakistan and a handful of others in disregarding the framework.
This means that, unlike most nations, the US “is not bound to arrest Putin”.
De Bretton-Gordon said: “He can roam around the world, in theory, in any countries that are not members of the ICC.
“A warrant from the ICC means nothing in those countries that are not signatories to it.
“And the Americans aren’t, so – he can go to Alaska.
“That is the loophole. He can operate exactly how he sees fit. He wouldn’t have gone anywhere where potentially he could be arrested.”
So the Kremlin can be confident that their leader will be leaving the Arctic state in his own plane – and trotting the globe without any threat of repercussions.
But de-Bretton Gordon insisted the Russians will not be relying on assumptions, and that Putin will be leaving nothing to chance with his visit.
He said: “Trump will have given Putin some cast iron agreement he won’t be arrested for the criminal proceedings against him.”
There are a few other reasons Putin is likely chuffed with Alaska as the meeting point, according to the security expert.
He said: “President Putin is absolutely fixated about his own security, and his desire not to wander out of friendly airspace.
“There’s not much of that to Alaska – would only be in international airspace for a few miles.”
It also means Russian power is making a return to the territory once owned by the Tsardom of Russia.
Putin’s distant predecessor Tsar Alexander II sold it to America in 1867 for $7.2 million — or two cents per acre.
Will Zelensky be at the meeting?
By Patrick Harrington, foreign news reporter
PRESIDENT Zelensky was initially thought to be a possible third member around the table at Friday’s superpower summit.
The first announcements from the White House suggested Putin would meet Trump, followed by a three-way meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelensky.
But that was swiftly shut down by the Kremlin, and an aide denied it had ever been agreed to on the Russian side.
A White House source told the New York Post on Thursday that if Putin did not agree to a three-way meet, the whole thing would be called off.
But a few hours later, Trump denied that and said he was happy to meet Putin anyway.
Over the weekend, a source briefed on the internal talks told The Sun: “It’s being discussed.”
And JD Vance also waded in, saying from England: “This is something where the President needs to force President Putin and President Zelensky to sit down to figure out their differences.”
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon told The Sun: “It seems to be just Putin and Trump who are meeting, which is bizarre because Zelensky is the most important person in all of this.
“I think there’s pretty low confidence that anything that is acceptable to President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine is going to be decided.
“If they are in absentia, if they are not there and represented, then no deal can be done.”
And the Great State of Alaska is also a very long way away from Europe, and all the pesky diplomats who have got under Putin’s skin.
The choice of location for meetings between rival superpowers carries enormous significance.
Many times, the charged encounters have been backdropped by Washington or Moscow – as well as Geneva, Vienna and even a Soviet cruise ship.
But Alaskan officials are delighted that their icy land will for the first time host a superpower summit.
Its geographical location automatically makes it a logical option, placed as it is directly between the US and the expanse of eastern Russia.
You can even see Russian territory while standing on Alaskan soil – if you stand on the island of Little Diomede and look out to Big Diomede.
Mike Dunleavy, the Republican governor there since 2018, posted on X: “Alaska is the most strategic location in the world, sitting at the crossroads of North America and Asia, with the Arctic to our north and the Pacific to our south.
“A mere two miles separating Russia from Alaska, no other place plays a more vital role in our national defence, energy security, and Arctic leadership.”
Russian media predictably hailed the meeting as a triumph for Putin and a blow for Zelensky – who appears to have been excluded.
But there is cause for Trump to celebrate the location of the summit as well.
It’s significant that Putin is making the journey to America, rather than him travelling the other way – despite the seven or so hours it will take him from Washington in Air Force One.
As host, he enjoyed the the privilege of announcing the meeting on his treasured Truth Social.
An exact venue for the summit was yet to be confirmed as of Monday, with officials still scrambling to finalize the details.
Who has the upper hand?
by Juliana Cruz Lima, Foreign News Reporter
RIGHT now, everything hangs in the balance – and the power dynamic could shift in a heartbeat.
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former British Army officer and military analyst, said the fact the summit is even happening is a win in itself.
But as for who’s calling the shots? That’s where things get complicated.
Noting the Russian leader still believes he’s making ground in Ukraine, the expert told The Sun: “Until fairly recently, it’s been pretty clear that President Putin has absolutely no desire for peace.
“His aim at the beginning of his special military operation over three and a half years ago was to subjugate the whole of Ukraine.”
According to de Bretton-Gordon, Trump has only recently woken up to the fact that he’s being played.
“It would appear that Trump has had a bit of an epiphany, a bit of a change of mind, and has now realised that Putin has been playing him.”
And now, Don is bringing the businessman in him and threatening to hit Russia where it hurts most: the wallet.
“If Trump follows through with his sanctions and tariffs… then this is the reason I think that Putin has come to the table,” de Bretton-Gordon explained.
“Economic and financial analysts who really know about these things believe that the Russian economy would peter out pretty quickly without the massive amounts of money and resources it gets from oil.”
In other words, Trump holds the economic sledgehammer — if he’s willing to swing it.
But Putin isn’t out of the game. His forces are still advancing, still hammering Ukrainian cities, and still killing civilians.
“Russia seems to be moving forward slowly,” de Bretton-Gordon warned.
“Attacking civilian targets in Ukraine at an unbelievable scale.”
Zelensky, meanwhile, remains the wild card.
“The people who are most important here are the Ukrainians,” he said.
“A bad deal for Ukraine is worse than no deal at all.”
And that’s the real risk. Trump might be chasing headlines, not justice.
“I think Trump probably just wants to get a deal of some description,” the former army officer said.
“One just hopes that Trump doesn’t try and do some sort of backhand deal with Putin, just so that he can claim that there is now peace in Ukraine, because the short-term peace is no good to anybody.”
So who has the upper hand? Right now, it’s still up for grabs.
But if Trump sticks to his economic guns, and if Putin starts to feel the heat on the home front, the balance might just tip.
