Trump is scheduled to host the Russian leader at a U.S. military base in Anchorage on Friday.

It is an about-face from Trump, who over much of the summer criticized Putin in harsh terms for the first time.

ANCHORAGE — The first presidential summit in years between Russia and the United States is on, setting nerves in Europe and Ukraine on a knife’s edge. But President Trump may have a surprise in store for Vladimir Putin.

Efforts to scuttle the high-stakes meeting have not been subtle. European officials issued statements in recent days on the futility of Trump negotiating with Putin over Ukraine without Ukraine, urging the U.S. president on Wednesday to not cut a unilateral deal . Kyiv warned that Moscow’s proposals for peace — rewarding its war of conquest with territorial con

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