{"id":171667,"date":"2025-08-24T12:26:36","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T12:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/171667\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T12:26:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T12:26:36","slug":"inside-putins-fossil-fueled-victory-lap-around-trump-in-alaska","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/171667\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Putin\u2019s Fossil-Fueled Victory Lap Around Trump in Alaska"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIt has been one of the most tumultuous and significant weeks in the global political battle over the war in Ukraine<\/a>. It began last Friday, with the cringe-worthy summit in Alaska<\/a> between President Donald Trump<\/a> and Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/a>, followed just three days later by seven of Europe\u2019s most prominent leaders rushing to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a>\u2019s side, arriving at the White House to provide backup for a hastily scheduled meeting with Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe unprecedented series of events resulted in Trump ceding to at least two of Putin\u2019s most harmful demands: no cease-fire in Ukraine and no additional sanctions on Russian oil<\/a> and gas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRussia<\/a> inched ever-closer to its goal of re-entering the global economy, unshackled by increased sanctions and with hefty benefits for the world\u2019s largest fossil fuel companies in return, even offering up lucrative deals to ExxonMobil<\/a> as the summit got underway. Ukraine tried to compete, proffering oil and gas contracts and an oil refinery project under the special terms reserved exclusively for American companies under Trump\u2019s U.S.-Ukraine minerals agreement<\/a>. Efforts are also underway to facilitate the increased sale of Russian oil and gas under the cover of American ownership.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe negotiations failed to quell Russia\u2019s brutal war<\/a> against Ukraine<\/a>, which raged on, claiming lives<\/a> and treasure as the talks<\/a> took place. Instead, the episode underscored a treacherous new global balance of power, in which the U.S. government under Trump continues to ally with the world\u2019s most brutal autocrats and dictators.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPutin was completely shunned by the West, and here we have an American president who\u2019s invited him to Alaska for something so symbolic and so important and he hasn\u2019t even had to do anything to get there, except for continue fighting in Ukraine,\u201d Sergey Radchenko, a Cold War historian at Johns Hopkins University, tells me. \u201cPutin probably sees himself as having been able to score a major victory without paying anything for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tThe summit, ostensibly about ending the war in Ukraine, focused as much if not more on opening investment and business collaborations between the U.S. and Russia. Though the \u201cUkrainian question\u201d was declared to be the main item of the agenda, \u201cmuch more important global issues\u201d would be raised in Alaska, including ambitious plans for U.S. and Russian energy cooperation, senior Russian lawmaker Sergey Gavrilov told The Wall Street Journal<\/a> ahead of the summit.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUnder the cover of the peace talks, Putin is just looking for political and economic gain including easing global economic pressure,\u201d Yuliia Melnyk, an environmental policy consultant and the co-founder and director of Ukrainian environmental organization, Ekoltava, tells me. \u201cOne of the key solutions to this war is breaking dependence on fossil fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI thought this war was black and white, who the bad guys are, but I don\u2019t see the U.S. as the \u2018good guy\u2019\u2019 anymore, and that means that the order of the world as it was is not collapsing, but you can see cracks,\u201d Ukrainian Mariia Freeman tells me, sadness filing her voice. \u201cIt started with my country and the price for that is in lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI met Freeman on a busy street corner in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, standing amid a sea of blue and yellow Ukrainian flags and bright yellow sunflowers. She had joined hundreds of other people lining the streets to protest the war in Ukraine on the eve of the summit. Smiling, waving, and holding up signs reading, \u201cWhere\u2019s Zelensky?\u201d \u201cStay home dictators!\u201d and \u201cI can see fascists from my window,\u201d their chants were routinely drowned out by the booming horns of trucks and the honks of passing cars expressing solidarity. Freeman\u2019s family fled Luhansk city in the Donbas region of Ukraine in 2014 following the Russian occupation and annexation, only to be forced out of Ukraine altogether after Putin\u2019s 2022 full-scale invasion and war, the deadliest war in Europe since World War II.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tFreeman now lives in Anchorage. \u201cIt feels like Putin is following me,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSome 600 people in Anchorage, Alaska, joined a protest against the war in Ukraine on the eve of a summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, on August 14, 2025. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAntonia Juhasz<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the Alaska summit, Putin took a victory lap around Trump, beaming all the while. Trump, who loves autocrats and dictators \u2014 especially the fossil-fueled kind \u2014 and is doing his best to become one within the strained confines of American democracy, was devoid of his characteristic bombast, appearing instead visibly submissive to Putin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tImages of a red carpet literally rolled out for Putin to step from his plane and onto U.S. soil dominated Ukrainian social media, posted and reposted with expressions of shock and outrage. It was the opening salvo to a hero\u2019s welcome on the tarmac of the U.S. military\u2019s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage where Trump and Putin stood laughing and smiling together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest<\/a> warrant for Putin in 2023, charging him with war crimes in Ukraine. This means that he can only travel to those countries where the government won\u2019t immediately hand him over to the court. Lucky for Putin, the U.S. is not a party to the ICC, so Trump was not obligated to turn him in, and had no intention of doing so.<\/p>\n

\n\tStanding on the tarmac, ABC news reporter Rachel Scott shouted, \u201cPresident Putin, will you stop killing civilians?\u201d Both men shrugged it off, as her repeated questions were drowned out by handlers yelling loudly, \u201cThank you press, thank you press.\u201d Putin then hopped into the \u201cBeast,\u201d the U.S. presidential limousine, riding side-by-side with Trump.<\/p>\n

\n\tI joined a who\u2019s-who of U.S., Russian, and other global media restricted to a nearby press tent watching the arrival unfold on our laptops. We noted other clues as to how the day\u2019s events would unfold, watching video of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrive in Alaska wearing a CCCP shirt<\/a>, the Russian letters for the former Soviet Union of which Ukraine was once a part. (Alaska was also once a part of the Russian Empire.) A neighbor leaned in close to me and whispered conspiratorially, \u201cI heard that on their flight to Alaska, Russia media were served Chicken Kyiv.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Russians smoked while we waited for hours alongside a row of porta-potties for the big event \u2014 a joint press conference between the two presidents. Around 2 p.m., we were rushed out of the tent and into a small well-kept theater.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tReporters await the start of the Ukraine summit press conference with President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAntonia Juhasz<\/p>\n

\n\tIf you watched the press conference live, you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking you\u2019d stumbled upon Russian television, as it was primarily conducted in Russian (we wore headphones providing translation). Against a blue and white backdrop reading, \u201cPursuing Peace,\u201d Putin entered the stage and spoke first, delivering an 8.5 minute soliloquy. He emphasized his close bromance with Trump, whom he first identified merely as \u201cmy American counterpart\u201d; the historic ties that bind Russia and the U.S., including the defeat of \u201ccommon enemies\u201d; and the \u201ctremendous potential\u201d of economic and trade ties, including in both the U.S. and Russian oil and gas-rich Arctic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPutin mentioned Ukraine just five times, stating that \u201ctoday\u2019s agreements\u201d would be a starting point for \u201cthe Ukrainian issue.\u201d He called for peace, while reiterating his long-standing demand to end the \u201croot causes of the war.\u201d This is Putin\u2019s shorthand for his list of maximalist demands on Ukraine, which rejects any cease-fire agreement and NATO membership, would neuter Ukraine\u2019s military, cedes all areas of Ukraine now under Russian control to Russia, requires new elections (which Putin anticipates will replace Zelensky with a Russian-friendly puppet), and an end to sanctions on Russia.<\/p>\n

\n\tTrump looked cowed and tired when it was his turn on the mic, speaking in a low gravelly voice for just a few minutes \u2014 a fraction of Putin\u2019s time. He also emphasized their close relationship and praised the \u201ctremendous Russian business representatives here.\u201d He said they\u2019d reached agreement on most key items and that he\u2019d promptly call Zelensky and European leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNext time in Moscow!\u201d Putin said, a huge smile spreading across his face as Trump wrapped up. \u201cI could see it possibly happening, thank you very much, Vladimir,\u201d Trump meekly replied.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey did not take a single question from reporters \u2014 highly unusual for Trump, but just the way Putin likes it. I had already noticed Fox News\u2019 Sean Hannity standing behind me, a shit-eating grin on his face. As they walked rapidly off the stage, Hannity followed and promptly conducted an exclusive half-hour, one-on-one interview with Trump in the same room where the summit took place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNo Cease-Fire, No Sanctions<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHannity and Trump traded thinly veiled barbs \u2014 Trump noted that \u201csome people say you\u2019re not smart,\u201d to which Hannity later retorted, that \u201csome people say that you\u2019re doing all of this work, none of which benefits the U.S.\u201d But the tete-a-tete served both men\u2019s purposes. Hannity hawked his radio and TV shows, and Trump made sure that Zelensky heard three key words: \u201cMake a deal,\u201d\u00a0Trump said. \u201cHe\u2019s got to make a deal. Russia is a very big power.\u201d He added, \u201cwe\u2019re number one, their number two.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGoing into the summit, Trump repeated his demand that Putin agree to a cease-fire and threatened increased sanctions on Russian finance, oil, and gas if he did not. Trump had begun to act on the threats weeks earlier, but in a monumental concession to Putin, ultimately capitulated on both demands once the summit concluded.<\/p>\n

\n\tUnlike Trump, Yuriy Vitrenko has gone head-to-head against Putin and won. Vitrenko is the former head of Ukraine\u2019s state energy company and Ukraine\u2019s former Acting Minister of Energy. He runs AYA Capital, which is trying to bring foreign investment into Ukraine. He has sat across the negotiating table from Putin and ultimately won two significant legal cases worth billions of dollars against Putin\u2019s prize oil and gas company, Gazprom, which Vitrenko describes as \u201cPutin\u2019s favorite geopolitical tool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFor Putin, energy is the pillar of Russia\u2019s strength and as a result its position in the world and his own claim to be above the law,\u201d Vitrenko tells me. Russia\u2019s vast oil and gas provides the money that fuels its military might and Putin\u2019s imperialist cravings, Vitrenko says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tTrump, notably, started his interview with Hannity by first praising Putin, and then Russia\u2019s incredible oil and gas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Putin invaded Crimea in 2014, President Barack Obama imposed sanctions targeting Russia\u2019s oil and gas, including its Arctic operations. Following Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, President Joe Biden joined world leaders in a much more aggressive global sanctions effort targeting not just Russian fossil fuels but also incentivizing a global movement off fossil fuels more broadly as the best path towards a lasting peace.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEveryone felt this, they knew that if we want to stop Russia, we must get rid of fossil fuels,\u201d Ukrainian environmental lawyer, Svitlana Romanko, founder and director of Razom We Stand<\/a>, tells me. \u201cWe started organizing together to make a public call which was to end the global fossil fuel addiction that feeds Putin\u2019s war machine.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s been working. \u201cRussia\u2019s fossil fuel export revenues have fallen since the sanctions were implemented, subsequently constricting Putin\u2019s ability to fund the war,\u201d reports<\/a> U.K.-based research organization, Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Russia\u2019s total revenue from all fossil fuel exports in July 2025 was nearly 40 percent lower than in July 2022, Isaac Levi, Europe-Russia Policy and Energy Analysis Team Lead at the Centre, tells me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe reason why Putin is out there in Alaska is to negotiate the removal of sanctions, which shows how important sanctions are on the Russian energy sector and economy,\u201d Levi argues. But, he adds, \u201cfossil fuel sanctions can and should be made much stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRussia still produces and exports large amounts of fossil fuels, but it\u2019s receiving far less money in return. With 40 percent of Russia\u2019s federal budget from oil and gas prior to the war, the toll on the economy has been significant. Russia\u2019s shrinking pool of buyers<\/a> is now dominated by China, with India\u00a0a distant second (importing about half as much as China). Next comes Turkey followed by the European Union, which banned Russian oil imports, but continues to rely on Russian gas.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn late July, Trump signed a new tariff arrangement with the European Union, requiring that it purchase U.S. energy. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, wrote of the agreement<\/a>, \u201cWe will replace Russian gas and oil with significant purchases of U.S. [liquified natural gas], oil, and nuclear fuels.\u201d It\u2019s a stunning reversal of her previous response to the war, writing in 2022<\/a> that the European Union \u201cmust get rid of its dependency on fossil fuels\u201d altogether.<\/p>\n

\n\tRomanko is incredulous that the EU would see swapping dependence from Russian to U.S. energy as a solution. The priority is getting off \u201cRussia\u2019s blood gas,\u201d she explains, and the best way to do this is \u201cjust go green!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOn August 6, Trump took his most forceful action to date, announcing a 25 percent<\/a> tariff on imports from India as a penalty for importing Russian oil \u2014 bringing India\u2019s U.S. tariff rate to a devastating 50 percent<\/a>. Trump also threatened tariffs on China, but then backed off, telling Hannity they were off the table, at least for now, \u201cbecause of what happened today\u201d in the summit with Putin. The Indian tariffs also do not take effect until August 27, and several experts now doubt that they ever will.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTrump made it very clear that he is not going to impose any additional sanctions on Russia for at least the next couple of weeks, which is already a good result for Putin,\u201d Tatiana Mitrova, a research fellow at Columbia University\u2019s Center on Global Energy Policy, tells me. Mitrova previously served as Executive Director of the Energy Centre of the Moscow School of Management.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tShe sees the tariffs on India as more of a Trump negotiating ploy. \u201cI assume that it\u2019s really an opportunity for Indian authorities to suggest something attractive to Trump\u201d to get him to drop the Russian oil tariffs, Mitrova says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tUkrainian environmental consultant Melnyk argues that governments should implement \u201crule of law conditionality\u201d that blocks purchases of fossil fuels from \u201cauthoritarian regimes that violate international law and human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u2018We Make Big Bucks\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWell before arriving in Alaska, Putin and Trump personally discussed<\/a> cooperation in the energy sector. For months, the U.S. and Russia have been negotiating lucrative oil and gas deals that would result in the lifting or easing of Russian sanctions. These include partnerships in the Arctic, liquified natural gas transit, and pipelines carrying Russian oil and gas to Europe, including within Ukraine through a U.S.-Ukraine minerals agreement.<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing a phone call between Trump and Putin in February, Secretary Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin\u2019s Foreign Policy Advisor Yuri Ushakov in Saudi Arabia, laying the groundwork for \u201chistoric economic and investment opportunities\u201d resulting from \u201cthe end to the conflict in Ukraine,\u201d according to the State Department<\/a>. Ahead of the meeting, Russian Direct Investment Fund chief Kirill Dmitriev told reporters that the return of oil companies<\/a> to Russia is inevitable.\u00a0On March 3, the White House directed the State and Treasury departments to draft a list of sanctions<\/a> that could be eased for U.S. officials to discuss with Russian representatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAll of these officials, as well as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, attended the summit in Alaska.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMany people now \u201cexpect that sanctions on Russia will be lifted,\u201d Mitrova tells me. \u201cLavrov mentioned in his interview right before the summit that he expects that at least some of the sanctions will be removed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the day of the summit, Putin underlined the point, signing a decree<\/a> that would allow ExxonMobil<\/a> and other foreign investors back into the Russian Arctic once sanctions are removed. Mitrova points to \u201cvery interesting wording\u201d which requires the companies to work for the \u201cremoval of political and economic sanctions which negatively affect the project, including going to court.\u201d She adds, \u201cI think it\u2019s mainly signaling Trump that \u2018we are ready to open the doors again to the U.S. business, but you guys have to remove sanctions because otherwise they cannot work in Russia.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAs I reported in March<\/a>, sanctions \u2014 combined with public opinion \u2014 forced most U.S. and other Western oil companies out of Russia and its vast oil and gas reserves. ExxonMobil was forced to abandon its stake in the Russian Arctic offshore Sakhalin-1 project, which is the target of Putin\u2019s decree. Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil and later Secretary of State in Trump\u2019s first administration, carefully built up a close relationship with Putin, ultimately establishing 10 joint ventures between Exxon and Russia\u2019s state-controlled oil company, Rosneft, by 2013. As a result of these deals, Exxon\u2019s 63.7 million-acre Russian holdings were nearly five times larger<\/a> than its second-largest holdings \u2014 its 14 million acres in the United States. With the imposition of sanctions in 2014, Exxon was largely shut out of these operations, and then fully shut out as result of the 2022 invasion.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re talking about hundreds of billions of dollars,\u201d says Vitrenko. \u201cThat\u2019s the sizable kind of pie that makes it attractive for big U.S. businesses that are also politically powerful, and they can deliver a message to the administration that says, \u2018We make big bucks in Russia, so why don\u2019t you just find the compromise for them?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tU.S.-Ukraine \u201cMinerals Deal\u201d Bears Fruit<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI reported in March<\/a> on the U.S.-Ukraine \u201cminerals agreement,\u201d calling it a \u201cfossil fuel shakedown.\u201d The agreement, which gives the U.S. unprecedented influence over Ukraine\u2019s energy sector, was signed not long after the calamitous Oval Office meeting<\/a> in February between Trump and Zelensky. Zelensky was forced to accept the deal given how closely aligned the Trump regime became with Putin<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite Trump\u2019s repeated references to \u201crare earth minerals\u201d, the agreement covers all of Ukraine\u2019s natural resources, including oil, gas, and coal, and related infrastructure, such as pipelines, the bulk of which<\/a> are found in areas of Ukraine now controlled<\/a> by Russia. The agreement is focused on fossil fuels and is already yielding fruit for the U.S. and Russia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe day before the summit, Ukraine announced<\/a> the sale of two oil and gas blocks\u00a0with special terms for U.S. investors, \u201cwith the right for a\u00a0U.S. partner to\u00a0purchase the output and a\u00a0guarantee that no\u00a0better terms will be\u00a0offered to\u00a0other participants,\u201d noting that the terms were designed to fulfill the minerals agreement. Ukraine has also offered<\/a> U.S. investment in an oil refinery \u2014 the nation\u2019s largest petroleum production site, owned and operated by Ukraine\u2019s largest oil company, the state-owned Ukrnafta.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tUkraine has its own agenda behind the offerings, hoping that they\u2019ll come with security guarantees. Zelensky met with U.S. companies operating in Ukraine in July to discuss the need for additional air defenses to protect businesses and cities. \u201cWe understand that if there is U.S. investment in the country, there\u2019s more motivation for the U.S. to protect (those assets),\u201d Ukraine Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe U.S. may also negotiate access for Russia to once again restart the flow of its gas through key Ukrainian pipelines. \u201cThe end game could be that the U.S. would allow certain limited volumes of Russian gas to transit via Ukraine, once the cease-fire or peace agreement is reached to the landlocked countries in Central Europe,\u201d Mitrova says. Depending on the terms, this could be a profound victory for Russia which has long sought tighter control over the pipelines in Ukraine, but it\u2019s an outcome the Ukrainians feel they may need to accept if it helps lead to peace in negotiations so profoundly stacked against them.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFrankly, if somebody tells Ukraine that Russia will leave Ukraine, they will prosecute all the war criminals and pay reparations, [and] the only thing that Ukraine needs to do is to continue gas transit, probably Ukraine will continue gas transit,\u201d Vitrenko tells me.<\/p>\n

\n\tRussian Energy Dominance<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf this level of engagement between Russia and the U.S. continues, it\u2019s very likely that there will be a resumption of Russian gas flows\u2026 involving U.S. intermediaries,\u201d Reuters<\/a> reported in May as officials from Washington and Moscow held discussions about the U.S. helping to revive Russian gas sales to Europe. \u201cSources close to the bilateral discussions said carving out a renewed role for Moscow in the European Union\u2019s gas market could help cement a peace deal with Putin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRussian oil and gas would then be able to flow freely through pipeline agreements secured by the U.S. and with U.S. owners or investors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFossil fuels are the lifeblood of the Russian economy and the basis of Putin\u2019s power. They have long dominated Russian-Ukrainian relations, with gas flowing through the heart of the conflict. In 2020, the EU received<\/a> about 40 percent of its gas imports from Russia, an amount that has fallen by half today. Gazprom posted a $7 billion loss the first year of sanctions, and will again record huge losses in 2025, which are then expected<\/a> to balloon to some $187 billion over the next 10 years.<\/p>\n

\n\tUkraine has always maintained the key role of delivering<\/a> Russian gas to European markets via pipelines, dating back to the Soviet era. The government of Ukraine owns the pipelines, and Russia pays Ukraine transit fees, which have been a substantial source of revenue and conflict. Russia has sought for decades to either wrest greater control of its pipelines through Ukraine \u2014 which it could now achieve through the U.S.-Ukraine minerals agreement \u2014 or bypass Ukraine altogether through the construction of several alternative gas pipelines, the most significant of which is Nord Stream 2. The long-stalled project could now be revived as part of Trump\u2019s economic negotiations with Russia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tGazprom partnered with Shell and other companies to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany. Amid global pressure to constrain Russian aggression in Ukraine, German regulators did not issue the final permit for the pipeline. In September 2022, in an act of sabotage, three underwater explosions<\/a> hit Nord Stream 2 and its parent pipeline, Nord Stream 1, leaving only one of the four gas links in the network intact to this day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRussian energy expert Levi believes that Russia did it. \u201cBlowing up Nord Stream sent energy prices through the roof,\u201d he tells me, which allowed Russia to severely defray the impacts of lost gas sales and sanctions.<\/p>\n

\n\tA group of U.S. investors is now seeking to revive Nord Stream 2, in a plan reportedly masterminded by Matthias Warnig, an ex-spy and close friend of Putin who until 2023 ran Nord Stream 2\u2019s parent company for Gazprom, reports the Financial Times<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe team of U.S. investors includes Frank Petruzzi. Petruzzi works out of a coffee shop on the Youngtown University campus in Ohio, where a placard on the bar reads, \u201cReserved for Frank.\u201d A recent profile<\/a> in the Youngstown Ohio Business Journal lays out a bio for Petruzzi which reads like the portrait of a Russian agent from a 1950s spy novel. In 1988, Petruzzi began shepherding journalists to Moscow and then joined the Peace Corps\u2019 business assistance program in Russia in 1994, ultimately spending the next two decades mostly living in Russia, sometimes unemployed or working with a variety of Russian business interests, \u201cincluding an oligarch.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPetruzzi said that his team submitted an application to the Treasury Department seeking clearance for the purchase of Nord Stream 2 last year. \u201cThe goal is to get that pipeline under the control of a U.S. group,\u201d he explained, adding that there are several other deals with Russia that the group is working on.<\/p>\n

\n\tPetruzzi\u2019s main business partner is fellow Peace Corps-in-Russia alum, Stephen Lynch, who also lived in Russia for two decades. A Wall Street Journal<\/a> interview of Lynch notes that questions have been raised about his ties to the Russian government. Lynch is a large Trump political donor and in 2022, he received a license from the Treasury Department to complete the acquisition of a Swiss subsidiary of a Russian bank that had been sanctioned by the U.S. government. In May, he met with German officials to discuss purchase of the pipeline, which the German government<\/a> still vehemently opposes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tElliott Investment Management, headed by billionaire and Republican mega-donor Paul Singer, is reportedly in talks<\/a> in a separate deal to buy a stake in the TurkStream pipeline, Russia\u2019s last operational gas conduit to Europe. TurkStream traverses the Black Sea to Turkey before feeding pipelines supplying Hungary, Slovakia, and other nations.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf, say, the U.S. and Russia agree on cooperation in the energy sector, then a gas pipeline for Europe could be ensured,\u201d Putin said<\/a> at a briefing in Moscow. \u201cAnd this will benefit Europe, as it will receive cheap Russian gas.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tVitrenko, Ukraine\u2019s former acting energy minister, explains that while smaller players may be willing to work with Russia with exemptions from existing sanction regimes, the largest U.S. companies will wait for some kind of peace agreement. \u201cCEOs of big oil<\/a> companies want to go back to Russia, but not at any cost,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s important that there is some kind of legitimacy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey\u2019re making themselves clear that that\u2019s something that they would like to see,\u201d he adds. \u201cIf Russia continues to be just an occupier, it\u2019s very difficult for the Exxons of this world to invest in Russia. Frankly, they need it to be whitewashed. Without whitewashing, they won\u2019t be able to do it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAmbitions of a Dictator\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe day before the summit, John Hopkins\u2019 University\u2019s Radchenko described Putin\u2019s vision for Ukraine to me as \u201csomething like Belarus-plus, a vassal state of Russia ruled by a dictator.\u201d Hours later, aboard Air Force One, Trump placed a call.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI had a wonderful talk with the highly respected President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko,\u201d he wrote on social media. Lukashenko is one of the longest-ruling dictators in the world and one of Putin\u2019s closest allies. Belarus\u2019 state news service said<\/a> that Trump accepted an invitation from Lukashenko to visit Belarus\u2019 capital city, Minsk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tViktor Orb\u00e1n, Hungary\u2019s authoritarian<\/a> strongman beloved by the American far-right, is set<\/a> to host a potential trilateral meeting between Trump, Zelensky, and Putin \u2014 though recent reports say Trump is now backing away<\/a> from participating.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAdvocates stress that a just peace process for Ukraine must follow the rules<\/a> of international law<\/a>, not illegal backroom dealmaking between autocrats and dictators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe cannot return to that dark energy future that empowers dictators like Putin, fuels wars, and locks the world into fossil dependence,\u201d says Romanko, of Rozam We Stand. \u201cWe need our full territories back, and an energy transition just as strong so that future generations of Ukrainians never again face a fossil-fueled monster, encouraged and sugarcoated by appeasement, red carpets, and the like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSome 600 people in Anchorage, Alaska, joined a protest against the war in Ukraine on the eve of a summit between Trump and Putin, on August 14, 2025. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAntonia Juhasz<\/p>\n

\n\tMariia Freeman, the Ukrainian from Luhansk, has been standing on street corners in Anchorage protesting against the war in Ukraine for almost four years. \u201cIt\u2019s better than sitting at home alone feeling depressed by the news,\u201d she tells me. Seeing hundreds of people turn up to join her the day before the summit, \u201call those people who care,\u201d she says, \u201cwas empowering.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tLater, reflecting on the failures of the Trump-Putin summit, Freeman shares a warning.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTrump\u2019s actions since taking office have all led to this,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s the ambitions of a dictator.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has been one of the most tumultuous and significant weeks in the global political battle over the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":171668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[934,35564,10321,69,98047,50,270,257,273,67,132,68,274,65202],"class_list":{"0":"post-171667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-alaska","10":"tag-big-oil","11":"tag-ceasefire","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-exxonmobil","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-oil","16":"tag-russia","17":"tag-ukraine","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-vladimir-putin","22":"tag-volodymyr-zelensky"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115083738018390584","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}