When US President Donald Trump meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday (15 August) to discuss ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine, the pair will meet for their first face-to-face encounter since Russia’s full-scale invasion began on US turf with close geographic and cultural links to Russia.
The choice of Alaska is no accident. The easternmost US state occupies a strategic and symbolic position in American–Russian relations that stretches back centuries.
It is not the first time the state has hosted world leaders: Ronald Reagan met Pope John Paul II there in 1984, and Richard Nixon welcomed Japanese emperor Hirohito in 1971. But holding talks with Russia’s president there carries more significance.
Speaking on Monday in the White House, Trump said he is “going to Russia on Friday”.
However, while Alaska was once part of the Russian Empire, in 1867 the US bought it from the Tsarist regime for $7,2m, around $156m (€134m) in today’s dollars.
Links between Alaska and Russia run deeper still. In 1799, Tsar Paul I established the Russian–American Company, forging commercial and cultural connections that still echo today.
Russian footprints
Now fully part of the United States, Alaska retains visible traces of its Russian past.
Historic buildings remain, and according to the state’s official website, Russian Orthodox churches are active in some 80 communities.
Many of these still use the old-style Russian Orthodox calendar, including celebrating Christmas on 7 January in Western calendars.
Indigenous peoples such as the Yupik and Chukchi have lived on both sides of the Bering Strait for centuries and have maintained family, cultural, and trade ties despite the formalisation of the US–Russia border.
Not always your friendly neighbour
Alaska’s geography has long made it strategically vital. Nicknamed the “Guardian of the North”, it is the closest US state to Russia: only 88 kilometres separate their mainlands, and in the Bering Strait some islands lie just 3,8 km apart.
During the Cold War, Mikhail Gorbachev’s government referred to the region as the “Ice Curtain”. Alaska was home to major US Air Force and Army installations, which operated as command centres, logistical hubs and bases for fighter interceptors on rapid alert.
Today, Alaska is home to stations of the North Warning System, a joint United States and Canadian radar system for the atmospheric air defence of the region. It provides surveillance of airspace from potential incursions or attacks from across North America’s polar region.
A contested highway to the Artic
Today, Alaska sits at the gateway to a changing Arctic. The Bering Strait is the only direct maritime passage between the Pacific and Arctic Oceans, and as sea ice retreats because of climate change, the route’s value to global shipping is growing.
The Northern Sea Route, which traces Russia’s Arctic coastline, is becoming more navigable, offering a shorter path between Asia and Europe, which echoes recent discussions on Greenland’s strategic value.
Traffic through the strait includes container ships, oil tankers, bulk carriers transporting minerals and ores, and vessels servicing oil, gas and mining operations in Alaska and Siberia.
Land rich in resources
Alaska’s wealth in natural resources adds to its strategic weight. The state holds an estimated 3.4 billion barrels of crude oil reserves and 125 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. It ranks among the top oil-producing states in the nation, with major output from the North Slope and Prudhoe Bay fields.
These resources are critical to US energy security as developing Alaska’s oil, gas and critical minerals reduces dependence and strengthens both economic and national security.
The state’s mineral output includes significant quantities of zinc, lead and coal, along with other materials deemed essential for modern industry. Its vast boreal forests also provide timber, with Native corporations responsible for more than half of Alaska’s total production.
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