The Russian leader senses a chance for more international recognition, while his American counterpart hopes to play peacemaker.

By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) -When U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Helsinki in 2018, the pair alarmed allies with a friendly encounter where Trump sided with the Russian leader over his own intelligence agencies on election interference.

President Donald Trump’s meeting in Alaska with Vladimir Putin could be a decisive moment in the war in Ukraine and in the U.S. leader’s anomalous relationship with his Russian counterpart.