Former Under Secretary of Defense Robert Wilkie told Newsmax on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrival in Alaska was a study in contrasts — and a calculated show of force by President Donald Trump.

Appearing on “American Agenda,” Wilkie described the scene on the tarmac at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson as “telling.” Putin, he noted, touched down in what he called “essentially a cargo plane,” while the U.S. president arrived aboard the iconic, massive Air Force One.

But it was what surrounded Putin on the ground that Wilkie said delivered the real message: “He has to walk through a gauntlet of F-22s and F-35s, aircraft that the Russian army cannot match.”

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