Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov stepped out of his vehicle and walked into his hotel in Anchorage this morning wearing a white jumper with CCCP written across the front in black.
The initialism – the acronym for the USSR in Russian – is likely a pointed effort to goad Ukraine, which was a part of the Soviet Union until 1991, ahead of the talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin over a possible end to the war.
Lavrov is one of hundreds of Russian officials and aides in Alaska for the meeting, including defence minister Andrei Belousov, finance minister Anton Siluanov, and Russia’s Direct Investment Fund chief Kirill Dmitriev – all of whom are sanctioned by the US.
“The first thing I don’t really understand is why those war criminals and idiots are not arrested immediately,” one Ukrainian soldier who goes by the name Greek told The Telegraph on Friday.
“I know they are the representatives of negotiations, but it’s so ridiculous that the whole world can see what’s happening. It’s like being a thief in front of the law – they can do whatever they want and not take any responsibility for it.”
Adding fuel to the fire were reports of sanctioned members of the delegation roaming free in Anchorage, with Siluanov spotted eating dinner at a local restaurant, and unconfirmed reports of Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov also seen in a parking lot with limited security around him.
The University of Alaska in Anchorage said that some of the Russian and US delegates are sleeping in small, student dorm rooms on its campus, as well as in ad hoc beds that have been set up at the Alaska Airlines Center because the city does not have enough hotels to accommodate the number of delegates.
On Thursday Putin arrived in Magadan, in Russia’s far east, where he is expected to meet the local governor and visit an industrial facility, before heading to Anchorage.
Mr Trump departed Joint Base Andrews in Maryland at around 13.00pm BST on Friday, with the flight expected to take more than seven hours.
The meeting is scheduled to take place at 11.30am local (8.30pm UK) at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.
Trump previously said that he believed the meeting had a one-in-four chance of failure, in which case a second summit would be set and would include Volodmyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president.
“We never make any predictions ahead of time,” Lavrov told Russian state media.
“We know that we have our arguments and our position is clear and unambiguous. We will present it,” he added as he walked towards his hotel in the CCCP jumper.
Lavrov, Putin and other members of the regime have repeatedly expressed nostalgia for the USSR, with the Russian president previously describing the collapse of the Soviet Union as the “greatest political catastrophe” of the 20th century.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as well as earlier attacks such as the annexation of Crimea in 2014, are all believed to be part of Putin’s longing for the past.
He has previously said that “modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia” and “Russians and Ukrainians were one people”.
The jumper could also be a jab at the US as a reminder of the rivalry between Washington and Moscow during the Cold War period before the collapse of the USSR, when the two countries took part in numerous proxy conflicts.
“Based on the history with the US and USSR, I don’t know if he was maybe trying to prove a statement. That sweater was funny,” Oleg, another Ukrainian soldier, told The Telegraph.
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