President Donald Trump has often bragged about his warm relationship with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. But in the months leading up to the leaders’ first meeting in six years, Trump began asking Europeans and White House aides what’s changed about his counterpart.

Alaska’s military power and Arctic proximity make it a critical yet exposed site for US-Russia diplomacy. Callie Carmichael and LeeAnne Lowry

President Donald Trump sought to lower expectations for his scheduled meeting in Alaska on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling reporters that a second meeting that would include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be more consequential.