If a fire alarm had been readily available in Helsinki’s presidential palace, the first summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin might have ended with sirens and sprinklers.

Fiona Hill, then a White House expert on Russian affairs, was so unnerved by Mr Trump’s remarks at the joint press conference that she “looked around to see if there was a fire alarm” to bring the “terrible spectacle” to a sudden close.

American officials might want to check out the fire alarms of the Alaskan venue where Mr Trump and Putin will meet on Aug 15 , particularly as the stakes for this summit will be infinitely greater than they were at Helsinki in 2018.

Back then, the two leaders had to deal with civil war in Syria and Russian interference in the US election in 2016. It was Mr Trump’s public di

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