Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was spotted wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the Russian letters for the USSR as he arrived in Alaska for the U.S.-Russia summit.

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet on Friday to discuss a peace deal in Ukraine, among other topics.

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Lavrov’s USSR sweatshirt appears to have been worn on purpose, and if so, it is not a good signal for Ukraine-Russia peace talks. Russian President Vladimir Putin believes Russia and Ukraine should be united again as they were during the period of the Soviet Union.

Lavrov showed up in Alaska wearing a USSR sweatshirt. Very reassuring to at least 14 of Russia’s neighbors. pic.twitter.com/zwalshPWaC

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) August 15, 2025

Putin allegedly aspires to recreate the Soviet Union, the collapse of which he called “the greatest geopolitical disaster of the century.” Ukraine has been independent from Russia since 1991 and wants to stay that way. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also resisted any proposal for land concessions.

Lavrov told reporters in Alaska that he won’t make “any predictions” about the outcome of the talks.

“We have solid arguments, we have our own clear and comprehensible position,” he said. “We will present it here.”

Foreign policy experts blasted Lavrov’s clothing choice.

“What message is FM Lavrov intending to send when he turns up in Alaska with a Soviet Union T-shirt? He wouldn’t do this just by chance. The Soviet Union was a miserable failure as society and economy,” former Swedish Prime Minister and co-Chairman of the European Council on Foreign Relations Carl Bildt posted on X.

A chief adviser to the Belarusian opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said Russia is stuck in the past.

“Lavrov’s ‘USSR’ sweater in Alaska is a clear nod to the Putin regime’s imperial ambitions,” Tsikhanouskaya’s senior adviser, Franak Viačorka, posted on X. “They’re stuck in the past and want to pull Ukraine and Belarus back with them – forgetting we are free nations that will never return to their ‘brotherhood.’Dictators cannot be appeased.”

Lavrov’s “USSR” sweater in Alaska is a clear nod to the Putin regime’s imperial ambitions. They’re stuck in the past and want to pull Ukraine and Belarus back with them – forgetting we are free nations that will never return to their “brotherhood”. Dictators cannot be appeased. pic.twitter.com/tbXG0Lgtdl

— Franak Viačorka (@franakviacorka) August 15, 2025

Other hints that Russia would not give up the war in Ukraine were reported. RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan claimed journalists from the outlet were served chicken Kyiv, named after Ukraine’s capital city, on Putin’s plane.

HILLARY CLINTON SAYS SHE WOULD NOMINATE TRUMP FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE IF HE CAN END UKRAINE WAR

Trump hopes to negotiate peace in the Ukraine war with Putin on Friday, but has also tempered expectations. He hopes to have a second meeting with Putin that includes Zelensky.

Ukrainian officials were not invited to the peace summit on Friday at Russia’s request.