Russia says it invaded Ukraine to halt Kyiv's ambitions to join NATO, the U.S.-led defensive alliance, which it saw as a major security threat. It also accuses Kyiv of persecuting ethnic Russians and their culture in Ukraine.

The Russian delegation will include Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, and Russian Direct Investment Fund head Kirill Dmitriev.

The U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska is happening where East meets West — quite literally — in a place familiar to both countries as a Cold War front line of missile defense, radar outposts and intelligence gathering.