BBC News in Anchorage
BBC“Putin should be in prison, he just came to Alaska that way.”
Hanna Correa is one of the seas of Alaskas, waving Ukrainian flags to lead to Anchorage.
“When I entered that parking lot, I saw a lot of Americans, they were supporting it, and it made me cry.”
Ms. Correa, 40, left Ukraine to see love in 2019, and six years later, the future of her country can be decided in her adopted hometown.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian rival Vladimir Putin will land at the joint base of Elmendorf-Richardson, a 30-minute drive away. Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky was not invited, and Ms. Correa said it was “very sad”.
Those protesting their arrival included 53-year-old veteran and Alaska man Christopher Kelliher.
“It’s rough, it makes you want to have a shower,” he said of the meeting.
“Putin doesn’t need to be in our state, let alone in our country. We have an idiot in the White House and that will kid this guy.”
The region and Moscow’s history make Friday’s summit even more important. The United States bought Alaska from the Russians in 1867 for $7.2 million (£1.48 million).
Critics called the purchase “Seward’s stupidity” and believed that the land constituted a frozen wasteland. But later rare earth minerals and large amounts of oil and gas were discovered, paying them to the label.
The ornate church is one of the most obvious symbols of Alaska’s Russian heritage. Prior to the arrival of the leaders, St. Tikhorn Orthodox Church in Anchorage had been praying for three days.
Pastor Nicholas Cragle, an American who recently moved to Alaska after living in Russia for seven years, said the conflict was “specially painful, close to parishioners.”
“We hope this meeting will bring about the climax of the conflict,” Mr. Kragger said.
The feeling is shared deep in the ankle of fishermen in the suburbs of town, drawn to the area by the charm of some of the best salmon in the world.
“I think it’s a good idea [the summit]I hope Zelensky will be here too… ending this.
He hopes to end the war: “Because they have caused damage to all cities, all buildings, making everyone more homeless, taking food away, supplying, their lives, their lives disappear immediately”.
Donald Trump did a “good job” in the ceasefire negotiations, he said.
Although the U.S. president often talks about his relationship with Vladimir Putin, tensions in superpowers remain, and are more acute here.
Military aircraft in Moscow are often found flying near the coast of Alaska. Canadian and American fighters were found in the Arctic in January after multiple Russian jets were found in the Arctic, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
For some Alaskas who are closer to Russia than Washington, D.C., this breeds a feeling of uneasiness.
“Although the Cold War between Russia and the United States is over, they are constantly patrolling our respiratory tracts,” Anchorage resident Russell Wilson told me during a fishing trip.
“If the president doesn’t put down the hammer, we might be the next Ukraine.”
However, other Alaskas think returning to Cold War hostilities is a far-fetched fantasy.
I asked Army veteran Christopher Kelliher if he was worried about Russian invasion. He replied: “Not really, everyone in Alaska has guns.”
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