Red carpet treatment for the Russian president has undermined the “Russia is isolated” narrative, the foreign ministry has said

Western media have erupted in hysteria over US President Donald Trump’s cordial welcome for his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska on Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

Zakharova weighed in on the three-hour negotiations in Anchorage that brought Putin to US soil for the first time in more than a decade. The Russian leader was greeted at the airport with a red carpet and a flyover of US fighter jets. He and Trump then rode together in the US president’s limousine to the summit venue.

While the sides did not announce any deal on Ukraine, Putin described the talks as constructive, with Trump calling the meeting “warm” and suggesting that Moscow and Washington “are pretty close” to settling the Ukraine conflict.

Zakharova noted that Western media had plunged into “frenzy bordering on complete madness” over the honors given to the Russian leader. “For three years they spoke of Russia’s isolation, and today they saw a red carpet rolled out to meet the Russian president in the US,” she said.

Sky News SEETHES at great power diplomacy to avoid nuclear Armageddon:

‘Trump leaves the summit with Vladimir Putin HUMILIATED.’

Ah yes, because trying to avoid the prospect of nuclear war in the most serious and escalating proxy war Russia and the US have ever fought would be… https://t.co/g66MeJ85on pic.twitter.com/Z86HQxVAQU
— Going Underground (@GUnderground_TV) August 16, 2025

Western media is attempting to frame the Alaska summit as a diplomatic win for Moscow. The Washington Post wrote that “the warmth of the welcome sent shock through Ukraine and Europe” while pointing to a stark contrast with the reception of Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky at the White House in February, when Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of disrespect, ingratitude over US aid, and of “gambling with World War III.”

😡 COPE & SEETHE In London: BBC Incandescent That Putin Treated With 'Respect' By Trump

Something not given by London to anybody who doesn't to its unipolar line. pic.twitter.com/w1SNRGhY44
— RT_India (@RT_India_news) August 16, 2025

Sky News correspondent Ivor Bennett, a former RT reporter, voiced surprise that Putin was first to speak at the media conference “as if he was the host rather than Donald Trump.” Another Sky News reporter had suggested prior to the talks that Putin would “use his KGB-trained powers of deception and seduction” on his US counterpart.

READ MORE: Trump praises ‘warm’ meeting with Putin

Bloomberg reported that “by inviting the Russian president onto American soil and giving him an audience, Trump had already delivered a diplomatic win” for a seemingly isolated leader. The agency also published a separate piece headlined “US-Russia Summit Shows How Little Europe Matters in Trumpworld” , referencing the fact that no EU leaders were invited to the summit.

Politico ran the headline “Putin’s Alaska triumph,” while CNN said: “Putin’s isolation ended when his plane landed in Anchorage,” adding, the Russian president “[is] back in from the cold.”

‘warm’

Trump envoy tells Alaska summit critics to shut up

Trump envoy tells Alaska summit critics to shut up

WATCH US F-22 fighter jets escort Putin’s plane

WATCH US F-22 fighter jets escort Putin’s plane

Western media in frenzy over Putin-Trump summit – Moscow

Western media in frenzy over Putin-Trump summit – Moscow

Trump praises ‘warm’ meeting with Putin

Trump praises ‘warm’ meeting with Putin