Unusual scenes in Alaska as Putin-Trump meet draw global attention
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Alaska witnessed a mix of high-stakes diplomacy and curious local color on Thursday, as final preparations were underway for Friday’s long-awaited U.S.-Russia summit — the first in four years — between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Trump has said he hopes the meeting at a Cold War-era air force base will mark the beginning of the end of the deadliest European conflict since World War II. Putin, currently in a strong position in the Ukraine war, has floated the possibility of a deal to limit strategic nuclear weapons, with the Kremlin eyeing broader talks on U.S.-Russian global interests.
In Anchorage, where the leaders are set to meet at 11 a.m. local time (1900 GMT), the scene blended history, symbolism, and oddity.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the Soviet-era “USSR” initials, while a bear and a moose wandered into a live TV feed. The Kremlin press corps, stationed in the Alaska Airlines Center, worked in a semi-open-plan room with makeshift beds and were provided free meals at a nearby university campus.
This will be the first visit by a Russian leader to Alaska, which the United States purchased from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million. The state — only 55 miles from Russia’s Far East at its closest point — is home to indigenous communities, as well as Russian and Ukrainian émigrés.
Local reactions ranged from hopeful to skeptical.
“I understand the historical moment. It’s kind of exciting,” said Galina Tomisser, a Russian-American former teacher in Anchorage. “I just want to hope and they say the hope dies last, so that there will be some fruitful results from this meeting, from this summit.”
Pro-Ukrainian demonstrators displayed a large flag reading “ALASKA STANDS WITH UKRAINE,” while Anchorage resident Helen Sharratt criticised the event as “just grandstanding for Donald Trump,” adding, “I don’t know who’s worse in terms of making a deal and not actually adhering to it.”
Meanwhile, at Anchorage’s Chilkoot Charlie’s bar, Soviet and czarist memorabilia — from portraits of Lenin to images of Tsar Nicholas II — decorated the “Russian Room.”
In Moscow, matryoshka dolls featuring both Putin and Trump were reportedly selling briskly.
In Ukraine, however, the mood was grim. “I don’t think anything good will come of it. There won’t be a positive outcome; the conflict will continue. At best, it will be a frozen conflict, nothing else,” said Kyiv resident Konstantyn Shtanko.
