Trump-Putin summit reflects Alaska’s historic Russia tensions
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — When U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Alaska on Friday to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine, the setting will serve as more than just a neutral meeting ground. It will also reopen a centuries-old story — one that intertwines Alaska’s geography, history, and enduring connection with Russia.
The 49th state has long been a crossroads of cultures, trade routes, and global tensions. It’s a place where history is measured not only in decades of U.S. The relationship between Alaska and Russia is as old as the Russian Orthodox church in Anchorage — the city’s oldest building — and as present as the Russian surnames carried by many Alaska Natives today.
Neighbors Separated by Just Three Miles
The U.S. and Russia may often be painted as distant superpowers, but Alaska’s westernmost edge tells a different story. On a clear day from Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait, you can see Russia’s Big Diomede — a mere 3 miles (5 kilometers) away. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin famously noted during the 2008 presidential race, “You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska.” While the remark became a late-night punchline, its geographical truth remains unquestionable.
A Land of Strategic Importance
Alaska became U.S. territory in 1867 after the United States purchased it from Russia in what critics mockingly called “Seward’s Folly,” named after then-Secretary of State William H. Seward. That transaction shifted the region from a Russian outpost to an American frontier, but it didn’t erase its past.
Over the decades, Alaska has been more than a scenic landscape; it has been a site of global consequence. During World War II, it hosted the only battle fought on North American soil when Japanese forces invaded the Aleutian Islands. During the Cold War, it was a critical listening post and missile defense zone — a first line of watch against Soviet expansion.
And from time to time, Alaska has also played host to high-profile diplomatic moments, where U.S. and foreign leaders, including Russians, have met in a place that feels like the edge of the world yet sits at the heart of global geopolitics.
The Russian Arrival
They weren’t settlers in the traditional sense — not in large numbers, at least. State Department’s Office of the Historian.
Instead, they were economic opportunists. But this was no fair exchange. Russian settlers often coerced Alaska Natives into hunting marine mammals, sometimes through brutal force.
“It was much more about a short-term pattern of extraction.”
The result was a lasting cultural impact but also a legacy of exploitation that shaped Native communities for generations.
From Fur Trade to Statehood
When the U.S. Yet, history would prove them wrong. Alaska’s rich natural resources — oil, gold, fish, and timber — became central to its economy, while its strategic military position made it an invaluable asset during global conflicts.
Even so, reminders of Russian influence persist in everyday life. The onion domes of Russian Orthodox churches rise in small towns. Family names hint at centuries-old connections. And in some communities, elements of Russian language and tradition remain woven into daily life.
A Meeting with History at Its Back
The upcoming Trump-Putin summit is not the first time Alaska has been a meeting ground for powerful nations, and it likely won’t be the last. What makes this meeting unique is its timing — a tense moment in U.S.-Russia relations as the war in Ukraine grinds on.
In some ways, the summit is a modern echo of the region’s history: two powers negotiating in a place where their pasts have always brushed against each other. Here, separated by only a sliver of sea, the line between history and the present feels especially thin.
For Alaskans, the meeting will unfold against a backdrop they know well — one where global politics and local identity have always been linked. Whether the summit yields diplomatic breakthroughs or simply more political theater, it will become part of Alaska’s long and complicated story with Russia, written at the meeting point of continents.