Putin's history rant in Alaska prompted Trump to raise his voice and cancel lunch – FT

During his meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska on 15 August, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin launched into a lengthy historical monologue that angered the US president, forcing him to raise his voice and even threaten to leave.

Source: Financial Times, citing Western and Russian officials and diplomats familiar with the matter

Details: The FT says Putin began recalling medieval rulers such as Rurik of Novgorod and Yaroslav the Wise, as well as the 17th-century Cossack chieftain Bohdan Khmelnytskyi – figures he frequently invokes to argue that Ukraine and Russia are supposedly "one nation".

A visibly unsettled Trump raised his voice several times and at one point threatened to walk out. He eventually cut the meeting short and cancelled a planned working lunch, during which broader delegations were expected to discuss economic cooperation and trade ties.

The confrontation reportedly followed a proposal by Trump for a deal to end the war in Ukraine, suggesting the lifting of sanctions on Russia in exchange for a ceasefire. Putin rejected the idea, insisting that the war would only end if Ukraine capitulated and ceded more territory in Donbas.

Background: Recent reports indicate that Trump was infuriated by media portrayals of the Alaska summit as a "Putin triumph".

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