The United States and Russia say Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will meet on February 19 alongside the APEC summit in Shenzhen, bringing the leaders of the three largest nuclear powers into a joint discussion for the first time.

The two accounts agree on the meeting’s central purpose: nuclear-arms reduction after the February 2026 expiry of New START, the last bilateral treaty limiting US and Russian strategic arsenals. The US position, as described by a White House official, is that the meeting will be the “beginning, we hope, of a conversation” on nuclear disarmament rather than a venue for a signed deal.¹

The Brazilian left account places the initiative in a wider moment of international tension, saying arms control and the US war against Iran are expected to be discussed. It also stresses the basic obstacle to bringing Beijing into a framework previously designed for Washington and Moscow: Pentagon estimates put China’s stockpile at more than 600 warheads, compared with more than 5,000 each for the United States and Russia. That disparity, it says, helps explain Beijing’s limited interest in accepting equivalent commitments.

The Brazilian right account similarly depicts the summit as historic but emphasizes the formal confirmations from Moscow and Washington. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said an agreement had been reached for “a trilateral meeting between Presidents Putin, Xi and Trump” in Shenzhen.² A White House spokesperson said Trump would discuss reducing nuclear weapons because he considered their proliferation “very dangerous.”

Both perspectives caution against expecting a breakthrough. A US official described the session as “a first conversation, a first approach” to reducing arsenals, while China, despite hosting the APEC gathering, had not officially confirmed the meeting. The right-leaning account adds that Trump and Putin may also hold bilateral talks on Ukraine and other shared concerns, suggesting the nuclear agenda will sit alongside broader strategic disputes.