The clothing choice attracted attention from foreign policy experts and former officials who viewed it as deliberate messaging ahead of the Trump-Putin summit on Ukraine war negotiations.
Also read: Putin says Russia-Ukraine war wouldn't have happened if Trump was US President in 2022 instead of Biden
"He wouldn't do this just by chance," former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt said of Lavrov's sweatshirt via X.
Putin's Soviet Union ambitions drive Ukraine war
Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022 as part of his personal ambition to re-form the Soviet Union, the collapse of which he has called "the greatest geopolitical disaster of the century." Lavrov's choice of sweater appeared to taunt the formerly Soviet Ukraine, a democratic country that has been independent since the USSR's dissolution in 1991.Putin, a former KGB officer, has repeatedly suggested that Ukrainians and Russians are "one people" and said in June that "the whole of Ukraine is ours." Putin has claimed that Ukraine, which gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, isn't a real country and was created by Russia.
After ordering the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Putin compared himself to Peter the Great, effectively portraying himself as a righteous conqueror fighting to restore control over what he views as Russian lands.
Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of the US Army in Europe, told Foreign Policy that Lavrov's CCCP sweatshirt suggests Moscow is taking the meeting "seriously" but "not in terms of achieving a peaceful settlement."
Russia views the summit as "another opportunity to flaunt that they have no respect for this US administration," Hodges told the publication.
Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia, posted on X that Lavrov was "trolling Trump" with his sweatshirt. Former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis posted, "'Just give us half of Ukraine and we promise we will stop' says negotiator wearing USSR sweatshirt."
Also read: Highlights of Putin statement after summit with Trump
Russian delegation arrives with additional symbolic gestures
Further symbolism was on display during the special flight from Moscow to Anchorage, where Russian journalists were served Chicken Kyiv, RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan posted to social media. It was unclear if the choice of meal, which is standard fare on Russian airlines because it can be easily frozen and reheated, was intentional.The foreign minister told reporters in Alaska that he wasn't making "any predictions" about the outcome of the talks between Presidents Trump and Putin. "We have solid arguments, we have our own clear and comprehensible position," Lavrov said. "We will present it here."
President Trump had said, prior to the meeting, that his main goals were to convince Russia to agree to a cease-fire and arrange a meeting with Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and himself so formal peace negotiations could begin. At Russia's request, Ukrainian officials were not invited to Friday morning's summit.
Trump downplayed expectations for the summit but told reporters aboard Air Force One as he traveled to Alaska on Friday that he wanted to see a cease-fire "today."
Summit format changes to three-on-three meeting
The meeting which was previously billed as a one-on-one between Trump and Putin was taken place as a three-on-three meeting, which involved Trump, US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Putin joined by his aide Yuri Ushakov and Lavrov.Trump met with Putin in Anchorage around 11:30 a.m. local time (3:30 p.m. ET).
Also read: Trump says 'no agreement' on ending Ukraine war as Putin says there was an 'understanding'
Ukraine and its supporters expressed concerns in the lead-up to the meeting, worrying that Putin didn’t genuinely desire peace and that he would attempt to manipulate Trump into embracing a framework for a peace agreement that disadvantages Ukraine.
Hodges said he had "very low expectations for this so-called summit," and added that Trump's threats of "severe consequences" for Russia if there's no cease-fire agreement would have rung hollow. He concluded, saying, “Since the president has done this already five or six times, without any actual consequences for Russia, and Putin knows this."
"Trump's approach is of a businessman from the late 1990s working a real estate deal in Manhattan," Hodges said.
Experts say that Lavrov, who has been Russia's top diplomat for roughly two decades, knew exactly what he was doing by wearing the USSR sweatshirt to the high-stakes Alaska summit.
