President Donald Trump greets Russia’s President Vladimir Putin Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. AP/PTI(AP08_16_2025_000011A)

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday claimed that he would not have invaded Ukraine if Joe Biden had not been in office, a remark seen as courting Donald Trump, even as US tariff threats persist. “I’d like to remind you that in 2022, during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague the situation should not be brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities,” Putin said after his nearly three-hour summit with Trump in Alaska.“And I said it quite directly back then. “That’s a big mistake today, when President Trump is saying that if he was the president back then, there will be no war — and I’m quite sure that it would indeed be, so I can confirm that.” “I think that, overall, me and President Trump have built a very good business-like [relationship],” he added. Trump has frequently expressed the belief that Putin would not have initiated the invasion had he been president in 2022, but he did not appear to engage with the dictator’s provocation on Friday.Ahead of the meeting in Alaska, Trump, while in his flight, told Fox News that this Ukraine war is Biden’s war and he was the one who screwed up. “I’m not doing it based on history, based on anything else — I’m doing it based on a deal. If we make a deal, great. If I see that there’s no hope of making a deal, I’m out of there… This isn’t my war. This is Biden’s war. Biden screwed this up…” Putin said. Trump subtly reminded Putin that he would not engage in any business dealings with Russia until the Kremlin ceased its three-year war on Ukraine, highlighting the US’ leverage. “We … have some tremendous Russian business representatives here, and I think everybody wants to deal with us. We’ve become the hottest country anywhere in the world in a very short period of time,” he said. “We look forward to dealing — we’re going to try and get this over with. “… We’ll have a good chance when this is over.”Trump said that he and Putin did not reach an agreement to resolve Moscow’s war in Ukraine, though he characterized the meeting as “very productive.”“There were many, many points that we agreed on,” Trump said at a joint press conference with Putin. “I would say a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite got there, but we’ve made some headway. So there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”