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Photos: Putin’s 25-year legacy with US presidents

Aug 15, 2025

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Photos: Putin’s 25-year legacy with US presidents

A visual journey through Putin’s interactions with five United States presidents spanning a quarter-century of diplomacy.

US President Bill Clinton meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Okinawa during the Group of Eight (G8) economic summit in Japan, on July 21, 2000. [Reuters]

Published On 15 Aug 202515 Aug 2025

Since 2000, Vladimir Putin has served as Russia’s president or prime minister, engaging with five different United States presidents, starting with Bill Clinton.

As he prepares for discussions with US President Donald Trump in Alaska focused on resolving the Ukraine conflict, here are photographs documenting Putin’s history with American leaders over the past quarter-century.

US President George W Bush gives Russian President Vladimir Putin a friendly pat on the back during their joint news conference at Brdo Castle near Ljubljana, Slovenia, on June 16, 2001. In the first of 28 meetings between them, Bush and Putin discussed arms proliferation, NATO expansion, and regional conflicts in the Middle East and the Balkans. [Reuters]

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US President George W Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin shook hands after signing a nuclear arms treaty during a ceremony in the Kremlin in Moscow, on May 24, 2002. [Larry Downing/Reuters]

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and US President George W Bush walk together on the grounds of the Bocharov Ruchey presidential summer residence on the Black Sea in Sochi, Russia, on April 6, 2008. [Grigory Dukor/Reuters]

US President Barack Obama meets with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow, on July 7, 2009. Putin had completed two consecutive terms as president the previous year, and had taken over as prime minister instead. [Jim Young/Reuters]

US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin shook hands during their meeting at the G8 Summit at Lough Erne in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, on June 17, 2013. [Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, on September 5, 2016. [Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/Kremlin via Reuters]

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Russia’s President Vladimir Putin engages in a conversation with US President Donald Trump during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7, 2017. [Carlos Barria/Reuters]

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin participate in a group photo at the APEC summit held in Danang, Vietnam, on November 10, 2017. [Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin via Reuters]

US President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin shake hands as they meet in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018. This was the only one-on-one summit between Trump and Putin during Trump’s first term in office, though they met six times in total. [Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump participate in a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28, 2019. [Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin via Reuters]

US President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meet for the US-Russia summit at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 16, 2021. This was the only time Biden met Putin physically while he was in office as president. [Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]

Russian President Vladimir Putin engages in a video conference for discussions with US President Joe Biden from Sochi, Russia, on December 7, 2021. [Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik via Reuters]

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