Russian leader Vladimir Putin has not set foot on US soil for a decade since attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 2015. His highly anticipated visit to Alaska for a summit with US President Donald Trump on Ukraine is the eighth of his presidency, a role he has held for some 20 years (his brief stint as prime minister notwithstanding). It is also the first time Putin has been welcomed to any Western country since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Pro-Kremlin outlets have celebrated the meeting in Anchorage, portraying it as a diplomatic victory for the Russian president. According to US State Department archives, Putin has met with every US president since he first took office in 1999. September 2000 In September 2000, Putin traveled to the US for the Millennium Summit, held at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. It was the largest gathering of world leaders in history as of 2000, and aimed to establish the role of the United Nations at the turn of the new century. At the summit, Putin reportedly delivered a plea for peace, putting forward two initiatives related to nuclear non-proliferation and preventing the militarization of space. However, according to the Russian news website Gazeta.ru, many delegates did not bother to attend Putin’s speech, with several dozen chairs remaining empty. He also attended a luncheon with then-US President Bill Clinton to discuss pro-democracy efforts in the Balkans, arms control, and Russian technology transfers to Iran, according to The Moscow Times. November 2001 Putin’s charm offensive in the West seemed to reach a new strength in November 2001, when he was invited by former US President George W. Bush to visit the US president’s ranch just outside of rural Crawford, Texas. In a visit to the local Crawford High School, Putin hailed the close relationship between Americans and Russians and assured students that Russia is “committed to fully cooperating with the American people.” “We had a little Texas barbecue, pecan pie, a little Texas music,” Bush declared proudly. “I think the president really enjoyed himself.” The Russian president was greeted warmly by locals, who were pictured holding up slogan t-shirts reading “the Russians are coming.” During the state visit, Putin also traveled to Washington DC and New York City. September 2003 Putin’s next visit to the US was in 2003, when he attended the 58th session of the United Nations General Assembly and met with Bush once again. In September of that year, the pair held a joint press conference at Camp David, a 125-acre country retreat for the president of the United States in Maryland. Bush told reporters that during Putin’s visit to Camp David, they had “discussed ways to broaden Russian-American military cooperation.” He described Putin’s vision for Russia as “a country at peace within its borders, with its neighbors, and with the world, a country in which democracy and freedom and rule of law thrive.” Putin attended the G8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia, and the funeral of former US President Ronald Reagan in Washington DC. September 2005 After a US presidential visit to Moscow in May, Putin was welcomed to the White House in mid-September 2005 for talks in the Oval Office. In a joint press conference, Bush described Russia as a “strong ally” and said “I don’t know how many visits we’ve had. I haven’t been counting them because I’ve run out of fingers on my hands.” “Every time I visit and talk with President Putin, our relationship becomes stronger.” Putin also attended the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly, as well as the 2005 World Summit. Putin enjoyed Bush’s hospitality once again, meeting the US president at his seaside summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. Relations between Russia and the US were increasingly strained, with disputes over the Iraq war, missile defense plans, and Russia’s anti-democratic trajectory. Despite this, the pair enjoyed a lobster dinner with a homely blueberry and pecan pie dessert, went fishing together, and went for a high-octane spin in Bush’s speedboat, Fidelity III. The subsequent year, Bush would visit Kyiv to declare “strong support” for Ukraine’s membership of NATO and confront Putin over Russia’s attack on Georgia at Beijing’s 2008 Summer Olympics. Bush and Putin had met 28 times in total. The only person he saw more frequently during his presidency was former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. September 2015 Putin made his first visit back to the US since regaining the presidency, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly and meeting with then-US President Barack Obama. At the meeting, more hostile than any before, Obama criticized Putin for the conflict in eastern Ukraine and Russia’s potential intervention on the side of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Since then, Putin has not returned to the US, though he met with current President Donald Trump six times during the latter’s first term.