RUSSIA has rolled into Alaska with a swagger – and a sneer – before Vladimir Putin even sets foot on US soil.

From a USSR sweatshirt to Chicken Kyiv cutlets, Moscow has dialled up its twisted digs at Ukraine – mixing Cold War nostalgia with brazen mockery as it struts into talks that could decide the country’s future.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived for the summit wearing a sweatshirt screaming “CCCP” – the Russian initials for the Soviet Union – in a pointed reminder of Moscow’s imperial past and its denial of Ukraine’s right to exist.

Once hailed in the West as a wily diplomat, the 75-year-old now channels the Kremlin’s hardline swagger, doubling down on Soviet nostalgia even as Russian forces slaughter Ukrainians on the front line. 

Lithuanian ex-foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis mocked the choice: “‘Just give us half of Ukraine and we promise we will stop,’ says negotiator wearing USSR sweatshirt.”

The stunt plays neatly into Putin’s warped narrative that Russians and Ukrainians are “one people” – a lie that has underpinned the Kremlin’s land grabs, war crimes, and the tearing down of memorials to Ukraine’s suffering under Soviet rule.

But Lavrov’s jumper wasn’t the only jab.

On the flight to Alaska, Russian state journalists were served chicken Kyiv – the Ukrainian dish whose name alone is enough to provoke Moscow’s fury. 

RT boss Margarita Simonyan gleefully posted about the menu, while pro-Putin mouthpiece Sergei Markov went further, snarling that “Putin and Trump should make a chicken Kyiv out of Zelensky.”

The trolling mood soured when Russia’s press corps landed in Anchorage to find their “modest sleeping quarters” were inside a converted ice hockey stadium.

Once a Covid hospital, the venue is now lined with fold-out army beds donated by the Red Cross.

“We are living in Spartan conditions,” one reporter grumbled in a clip shared on social media, The Guardian reported.

This is Russia’s brand of diplomacy – trolling, humiliation, and a smug grin.

Behind the theatrics is a clear aim: to rattle Kyiv and its allies before a summit that could shape Ukraine’s fate.

Zelensky has already warned that any deal without Ukraine risks disaster.

He said earlier on Friday: “The key thing is that this meeting should open up a real path toward a just peace… We are counting on America.”

Donald Trump, meanwhile, is publicly playing the hard man. 

“Maybe it’s in his genes,” he said of Putin’s appetite for killing, warning of “very severe” consequences if the Russian leader isn’t serious about peace.

“If I weren’t president, he would take over all of Ukraine… but I am president and he’s not going to mess around with me.”

The two leaders will lock eyes at the Elmendorf-Richardson base near Anchorage at 11.30am local time (8.30pm UK), with over 32,000 troops, air defences, and electronic jamming systems locking the place down. 

Putin’s feared “Musketeers” bodyguards will be in tow, along with the nuclear briefcase – and even his notorious “poo suitcase” to guard his medical secrets.

Anchorage locals are already protesting, furious that a man wanted for war crimes is being welcomed to US soil.

Many are demanding an immediate end to the “barbaric killing of innocent civilians” in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, a former spy who trained at the same KGB school as Vladimir Putin has warned of the Kremlin strongman’s powers of manipulation – and claimed the despot has already “won” today’s summit with Trump.

Behind closed doors, Trump and Putin will “thrash out sensitive matters” before facing the press. 

Sources suggest Trump may dangle economic sweeteners – from access to Alaska’s resources to a “West Bank-style” model letting Russia keep its occupied Ukrainian land without redrawing borders.

Putin has praised Trump’s “sincere efforts,” but Zelensky isn’t buying it – calling the Russian leader’s peace talk a bluff.

Trump, for now, insists the stakes couldn’t be higher, posting a blunt warning before boarding Air Force One: “HIGH STAKES!!!”