WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump lashed out at what he called “unfair” media coverage ahead of his high-stakes summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, set to take place Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump criticized news outlets for quoting former officials like his ex-national security adviser John Bolton, referring to them as “fired losers” and “really dumb people.”
“Very unfair media is at work on my meeting with Putin,” Trump wrote. “If I got Moscow and Leningrad free, as part of the deal with Russia, the Fake News would say I made a bad deal!”
Leningrad reverted to its historical name, St. Petersburg, in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The upcoming summit marks Putin’s first visit to U.S. soil in roughly a decade, and his first in-person meeting with an American president since launching Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has made ending the war one of his top foreign policy goals.
Despite initial warmer tones toward the Russian leader, Trump has reportedly grown increasingly critical of Putin following intensifying Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.
Critics, including Bolton, argue that hosting Putin gives legitimacy to what they describe as a “rogue leader of a pariah state.” Bolton has warned that Putin will attempt to exploit the meeting for his own gain.
Last week, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin at the Kremlin ahead of Friday’s talks. Trump has reportedly delivered an ultimatum to Moscow: show progress toward peace or face sweeping U.S.-led sanctions targeting Russian oil exports.
While the specifics of Russia’s demands for ending the conflict remain unclear, Trump administration officials are eyeing a potential trilateral summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the near future. Zelensky, however, has publicly resisted any peace plan that would involve major territorial concessions to Russia.
Vice President JD Vance confirmed that the Alaska summit is seen as a potential step toward broader peace negotiations involving all three leaders.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both characterized the upcoming meeting as a way for Trump to “test” Putin’s openness to a negotiated settlement.
The summit is expected to draw global attention, as the international community watches closely for any signs of progress—or escalation—in the long-running conflict.
