Alaskans share anger and hope when Trump and Putin fly

“Putin should be in prison, and he just comes to Alaska yes.”

Anna Correa is one of the Alaskans, who waves Ukrainian flags on the road leading to the capital, Ancoridge.

“When I went through this parking lot and I see a lot of Americans, they support, it made me cry,” she says.

Ms. Correo, 40 years old, left Ukraine in 2019 for love, and six years later her country could be resolved in his hometown.

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin plan to touch on the joint base Elmendorf-Richardson, 30 minutes away. Ukraine’s leader Valodimir Zelensky is not invited that Ms. Correa says “rather sad”.

Among those who protest about the arrival are Kelistofer Keliher, a 53-year-old veteran of the military and a native of Alaska.

“It’s rude, it makes you take a shower,” he says of the meeting.

“Putin does not need to be in our state, and even more so in our country. We have an idiot in the White House that will Kowtow for this guy.”

The history of this region with Moscow gives an additional value on Friday. The US purchased Alaska from Russians in 1867 for $ 7.2 million (£ 1.48).

Critics called the purchase “stupid Suard”, arguing the land, made a frozen wasteland. But later the discoveries of minerals of rare land and rich oil and gas paid on this label.

Decorated churches are one of the most prominent symbols of the Russian heritage of Alaska. The Orthodox Church of St. Tikhon spent three days of prayer in front of the leaders’ arrival.

Priest Nicholas Kragl, an American who recently moved to Alaska after his life in Russia for seven years, says the conflict is “especially painful and close to the hearts”.

“We hope that this meeting will lead to something … will culminate this conflict,” says Mr. Kregl.

Such a feeling shares fishing ankles in the bed cry on the outskirts of the city, attracted to the area with attractive attractiveness of some best salmon in the world.

“I think this is a good idea (at the summit), I want Zelensky to be here … Go to this business,” says Don Cresley, who lives in Alaskan North Pole and visits fishing with her grandson.

He wants to stop the war “out of the destruction, which they do in all cities, all the buildings, which makes everyone more homeless, taking food, their stocks, their lives at once.”

Donald Trump, he said, does “strange work” at the ceasefire negotiations.

While the US president often speaks warmly about his relationship with Vladimir Putin, the tension of the superpower remains and is more acute here.

Moscow’s military aircraft are regularly detected by flight off the Alaska coast. And in January, Canadian and American fighters were blocked after numerous Russian planes were spotted in the Arctic, the North America Aerospace Defense Command reports.

It causes anxiety for some Alaskans living closer to Russia than in Washington.

“Although the Cold War ended between Russia and the United States, they are constantly patrolling our airways,” says a resident of the anchor of Russell Wilson during fishing.

“If the president does not put the hammer, we could become the next Ukraine.”

However, other Alaska believe that the return to the hostilities of the Cold War is a far-fetched fantasy.

I ask Army’s veteran Christopher Kelihar when he is concerned about the Russian invasion. “In fact, everyone in Alaska owns a gun,” he replies.