After the meeting of the presidents of Russia and the United States in Alaska on August 15, 2025, information spread on the Internet that the Russian delegation had to pay for refueling its planes in cash. We checked if this is true.

A few days after Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump met in Alaska, many Russian and foreign media reported that the Russian delegation had difficulty paying expenses and was forced to pay cash for fuel for its planes. Similar articles were published in such publications as RBC, "Gazeta.ru", "Moskovsky Komsomolets" And TASS. Telegram channels wrote about this news Nexta Live (202,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), “Proof" (70,000), "Mikha the anarchist Chaplyga» (57,000), as well as users X, Facebook, "VKontakte"and other social networks.

Most articles on fuel payments quote US Secretary of State Marco Rubio from his interview American television channel NBC on August 17. When asked by a journalist why Trump had not yet imposed the promised sanctions against Putin, Rubio replied: “When the Russians landed in Alaska, they needed to refuel. They had to pay for the gas in cash because they can't use our banking system. They feel the consequences of sanctions every day. But nevertheless, this did not affect the course of the war.”

According to the Flightradar24 service, the Russian delegation used at least nine aircraft of different types during the presidential visit: presidential board Il-96-300PU (RA-96024), another identical IL-96-300PU (RA-96025), three military Il-96s with transport, journalists from the Kremlin pool and part of the Russian delegations (RA-96018, RA-96019 And RA-96023), Tu-214 special squad "Russia" (RA-64531), two Il-76 refueling aircraft (RA-78838 And RF-76772) and Bombardier Global Express XRS business jet (RA-73584). Most planes made only short flights lasting 4–5 hours (for example, Putin’s plane arrived from Magadan, and after Alaska flew to Anadyr). Considering that distance by air between Magadan and Anchorage - approximately 3150 km, and the Il-96 Maybe cover about 10,000 km without refueling, it is quite possible that the presidential airliner did not need to refuel in the United States. However, several airplanes The Russian delegation made direct flights from Moscow to Anchorage and back, with each flight taking 10–11 hours. Therefore, it is safe to say that some aircraft needed to refuel at Anchorage, but it is unknown whether they had to buy American kerosene or made do with supplies brought with them in cargo planes and tankers.

Two days after Rubio’s statement, his Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov appeared on the Rossiya 24 TV channel. replied: “You always have to pay for fuel. Cash or not, it doesn't matter. These are expenses that are always borne by a country whose leadership and the corresponding delegation visit another state.”

Indeed, when hosting presidents of other countries, the United States tends to cover expenses for accommodation, food and internal transportation during the visit. But the foreign delegation carries out international transport and related expenses independently, albeit with some tax concessions specified in Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. In normal cases, foreign delegations conclude contract for refueling, and then pay the invoice. But if any restrictions or sanctions make electronic payments difficult, fuel Maybe be paid in cash.

According to the US Secretary of State, Russia was unable to carry out a standard banking transaction due to sanctions imposed on the country in connection with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, on August 13, 2025, the US Treasury Department issued General license No.125 (GL125), which gave permission for all kinds of operations and transactions necessary to prepare and conduct the meeting of the US and Russian governments in Alaska, until August 20, 2025. Three years earlier, on November 10, 2022, the US Treasury released General license No. 53 (GL53), which authorized transactions necessary for the official activities of Russian diplomatic missions in the United States and in third countries. It is important to note that although US sanctions do not prohibit diplomatic transactions, many Russian banks disabled from the SWIFT system and are subject to banking restrictions. Foreign banks themselves accept decisions about which accounts they will service, even if transactions are technically allowed. It turns out that even if a bank transaction to pay for fuel was permitted under GL53 and GL125, the fuel supplier's bank could theoretically refuse to process the payment, forcing Russia to settle in cash.

Back in 2024 Sergey Lavrov spoke, that due to sanctions from Western countries, the Russian Foreign Ministry periodically encounters problems when refueling aircraft abroad: “In 2023, I was instructed to represent the President of Russia at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg. There was a whole story about refueling the plane for the flight back. It turned out that almost all companies that refuel aviation fuel do not belong to South Africa. There was a similar situation in Brazil when I was there on a visit. It was impossible to refuel." That is, although neither South Africa, nor Brazil did not support sanctions against Russia, fuel refueling operators at the airports of these countries, apparently, were branches of international companies or worked with foreign banks. Such companies are usually subject to the rules of their parent structures and may refuse service to Russian government aircraft due to risks secondary sanctions or de-risking policies (de-risking - English) - self-restriction of their services, even when formally the operation could be permitted.

Perhaps the Russian delegation took enough funds with them to Alaska to avoid the problems Lavrov spoke about. Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat at the UN who resigned in protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, wrote in his account in X: “They always carry suitcases with cash to any summits.” In this case, the American side knew about the import of these “suitcases”, since Russian officials (even those with diplomatic status) were obliged declare imports over $10,000 in cash.

At the same time, there is no exact confirmation of how exactly Russia paid for the fuel poured at the military base Elmendorf - Richardson, Where took place meeting between Trump and Putin on August 15. “Verified” requested a comment from the press service of the military base, which advised contacting the US White House. At the time of publication, “Verified” had not received a response from the White House.

Thus, the very fact of payment for fuel by the Russian delegation is consistent with international practice: the foreign party usually covers the costs of an international flight and related services. Despite the US general licenses in force during the days of the visit, which allowed diplomatic transactions, there were no formal legal obstacles to non-cash payments. However, real operational barriers: the disconnection of a number of Russian banks from SWIFT and the risk reduction policy of foreign banks and fuel operators - could complicate standard payments, making cash payment a practical way to avoid a flight disruption.

At the same time, some of the delegation’s aircraft may not have needed refueling in the United States at all (for example, those that performed short flights with stops in the Far East), while for others the fuel they brought with them could be sufficient. To find out how the problem of refueling the aircraft of the Russian delegation was actually solved, there is still not enough data.

Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons