Anchorage security ramps up before Trump-Putin talks on Ukraine’s future, Bloomberg reports
The U.S. Secret Service has deployed hundreds of agents to Anchorage, coordinating with Russian security services to protect both leaders during the high-stakes Aug. 15 summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The operation, announced by Trump just a week earlier, has been compressed into an unusually short planning period, Bloomberg reported on Aug. 14.
According to people familiar with the preparations, the security effort has turned into an all-out sprint. Holding the meeting on American soil allows the Secret Service to move weapons, communications equipment, and medical gear without foreign restrictions, but Alaska’s geography poses logistical hurdles.
Anchorage has limited hotel capacity and a small rental car market, forcing vehicles, motorcade SUVs, and other assets to be flown in from the continental U.S.
The summit will take place at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska’s largest military installation, chosen for its controlled airspace, fortified perimeter, and immediate access to military units. The Cold War-era base, located less than 1,000 kilometers from Russia, is closed to the public.
Security arrangements follow strict reciprocity protocols, with each side matching the other’s personnel and resources — from motorcade composition to the number of translators and secure waiting rooms. The Secret Service will guard Trump’s outer perimeter, while Russian agents will control Putin’s immediate movements.
The meeting comes as Trump indicated the talks could include potential territorial swaps between Ukraine and Russia — an idea that Kyiv has firmly rejected. Ukraine was not invited to the meeting.
A source in the Ukrainian President’s Office told the Kyiv Independent that Moscow had suggested Ukraine withdraw its troops from government-controlled areas of partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. In exchange, Russia would pull back from parts of Kharkiv and Sumy oblasts in the northeast.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed any proposal that would see Ukrainian territory ceded to Russian control.
In the days leading up to the summit, Russian forces have intensified their offensive in eastern Ukraine, advancing roughly 10 kilometers near the city of Dobropillia — a move that threatens to destabilize Ukraine’s defensive lines in Donetsk Oblast.
