President Donald Trump has been accused of attempting to assert dominance over Russian President Vladimir Putin during a closely scrutinized handshake at their high-stakes meeting in Anchorage, Alaska.
The encounter comes amid stalled efforts to end the war in Ukraine, a conflict that Trump has repeatedly pledged to resolve since returning to the White House in January.
Observers quickly seized on a moment when Trump appeared to pull Putin sharply toward him during their handshake, a gesture many interpreted as a calculated show of power.
Social media lit up with speculation, with one user posting a clip of the exchange alongside the caption: “President Trump DOES THE YANK HANDSHAKE! He pulled in Putin’s hand! I VOTED FOR THIS!!”
Others suggested the move was deliberate, with another commenter writing: “Trump just asserted dominance before the meeting even started.”
As well as the dominant handshake, onlookers noted that the famed American B-2 Bomber, as well as four F-35 fighter jets, were flown right over Putin’s head as he disembarked from his plane.
The optics come at a time when Trump has grown visibly frustrated with Moscow’s unyielding approach to the conflict in Eastern Europe.
Despite repeated appeals for dialogue, coupled with new offers from Washington that include access to certain mineral and trade deals, Putin has continued to intensify strikes on Ukrainian cities. Trump has admitted that his appeals to the Russian president have gone unanswered, noting that each round of discussions has been followed by further escalations on the battlefield.
Speaking earlier in the day, Trump acknowledged the limits of his influence. “I’ll tell you what. I’ve had that conversation with him. I’ve had a lot of good conversations with him, then I go home and I see that a rocket hit a nursing home or a rocket hit an apartment building, and people are laying dead in the streets,” Trump said.
“So, I guess the answer to that is no, because I’ve had this conversation. I want to end the war. It’s Biden’s war, but I want to end it. I’ll be very proud to end this war, along with the five other wars I ended. But, I guess the answer to that is probably no,” he continued, per Al Jazeera.
Reporters traveling with the president on Air Force One pressed him on what measures he would take if Putin refused to engage in meaningful talks. Trump’s answer was intentionally vague, though he promised Russia would face major consequences. “Economically severe. It will be very severe,” he said. “I’m not doing this for my health, okay, I don’t need it. I’d like to focus on our country, but I’m doing this to save a lot of lives. Yeah, very severe.”
Pressed for specifics on what such penalties might entail, Trump declined to elaborate. “I don’t have to say. There will be very severe consequences,” he insisted, according to Politico, leaving open the question of what actions the U.S. might take if Moscow continues its bombardment of Ukrainian cities.
The meeting in Anchorage marks the most direct confrontation yet between Trump and Putin since the conflict escalated, and the handshake moment only added to the intrigue. For now, the world waits to see whether the show of force will translate into substantive progress, or simply more of the same stalemate that has left the region engulfed in war.
