Stepping foot on Western soil for the first time since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin basked in choreographed pageantry courtesy of Donald Trump, but awkwardness was not far away.
In made-for-television images, Mr Putin and Mr Trump each flew in their presidential planes to Elmendorf Air Base, the largest US military installation in Alaska that once played a key role in monitoring the Soviet Union.
President Trump waited in Air Force One until President Putin's plane landed and then waited again for him on the tarmac, clapping as he saw the Russian leader for the first time since 2019, this time under a grey sky.
They then walked towards each other, smiled and shook hands before posing together at a sign that read "Alaska 2025".
In a highly unusual move, Mr Putin stepped into "The Beast," the ultra-secure US presidential limousine, alongside Mr Trump before they headed into talks.
The Russian leader grinned widely and appeared to joke about his silence to reporters as the two started their meeting in a room which the American hosts emblazoned with "Pursuing Peace" - written only in English.
Mr Putin has curtailed his travel sharply since he sent troops to invade Ukraine and he faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court related to the war.
He was quickly confronted on the issue as a reporter repeatedly and loudly shouted out to him: "When will you stop killing civilians?"
But Mr Putin did not react and his aides ahead of the summit sought to press their message, sometimes in unsubtle ways.
Sergei Lavrov, the veteran Russian foreign minister rarely seen out of a jacket and tie, was photographed in Alaska in a sweatshirt emblazoned with "CCCP" - the USSR - in a reminder of the superpower status that Mr Putin has been striving to recreate.
Senior Russian officials were temporarily relieved from the severe US sanctions in place since the Ukraine invasion, allowing them not just to arrive in the United States but to carry out day-to-day transactions such as withdrawing money from cash machines.
The presidents are not expected to step off the base, but activists held out hope of at least a fleeting protest by posting blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags on roofs that could be in eyesight if either leader stared out of a plane window on their descent.
Demonstrators also taped signs to lampposts and walls near the convention centre where journalists picked up accreditation and the occasional Russian official may have walked.
One sign, with a portrait of Mr Putin, read: "This war criminal kidnaps children".
With just a week to prepare since President Trump announced the summit, Anchorage was strained to capacity with hotels full of prebooked tourists on fishing expeditions and coastal cruises who had no warning that their summer destination would become the focus of global diplomacy.
Russian journalists, unable to secure accommodation, posted disapproving pictures of staying in a sports arena, where they slept on beds partitioned from one another by black curtains.
The US hosts served the Russian journalists a selection of familiar foods - shashlik meat skewers and grilled fish - as well as a common dish for Russians that suddenly could take on another meaning, chicken Kiev.
Accreditation AFP
