WASHINGTON, August 16. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump realizes that allied, not hostile, relations with Russia are in the US’ interests, a source close to the Trump administration told TASS, commenting on the Russia-US summit in Anchorage, Alaska.

"President Trump understands that Russia and the US are better served by being allies than adversaries," a former senior US administration official and a former member of the Trump Transition team said.

That said, he recognized that the Trump administration is making efforts to settle the Ukraine conflict in order to switch its main resources to counteracting Beijing. "The Russian-Ukraine war is a distraction to the challenge posed by Communist China," the source said.

On August 15, a summit between Russia and the US took place at a military base in Alaska. The talks lasted more than three hours and included several formats: one-on-one in the American leader's limousine en route to the main venue and in a small group of "three on three." The Russian delegation included Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, while the US delegation included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Following the talks, Putin told the press that the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict was the main topic of the summit. The Russian leader also called for a new beginning in bilateral relations and a return to cooperation. He invited Trump to Moscow. For his part, the US president announced the progress achieved in the talks but noted that the two sides had not reached an agreement on everything.