The Alaskans share the anger and the hope that Trump and Putin fly

“Putin is supposed to be in prison, and he just comes to Alaska like that.”

Hanna Correa is part of a sea of Alaskians by waving Ukrainian flags on the road leading to the capital, anchorage.

“When I entered the parking lot and I see many Americans, they support, it made me cry,” she said.

Ms. Correa, 40, left Ukraine in 2019 for love, and six years later, the future of her country could be decided in her adopted hometown.

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin should tackle Elmendorf-Richardson Base Base, 30 minutes by car. The leader of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is not invited, what Mrs. Correa says is “quite sad”.

Among those who protest against their arrival are Christopher Kelliher, a 53 -year -old military veteran from Alaska.

“It’s disgusting, it makes you want to take a shower,” he said about Reunion.

“Putin does not need to be in our state, even less our country. We have an idiot in the White House that will go to this guy.”

The history of this region with Moscow gives Summit on Friday. The United States bought Alaska from the Russians in 1867 for $ 7.2 million (1.48 million sterling pounds).

Critics called for the purchase “Seward’s Folily”, arguing that the land was equivalent to a frozen desert. But subsequent discoveries of rare earth minerals and abundant oil and gas have been paid to this label.

The ornate churches are among the most visible symbols of the Russian heritage of Alaska. The Orthodox Church of St Tikhon of Anchorage organized three days of prayer before the arrival of the leaders.

The priest Nicholas Cragle, an American who recently moved to Alaska after having lived in Russia for seven years, says that the conflict is “particularly painful and close to the heart” of the parishioners.

“We hope that this meeting will lead to something … will lead to the culmination of this conflict,” said Craggle.

This feeling is shared by fishermen to the ankles in the stream bed on the outskirts of the city, attracted by the region by the attraction of some of the best salmon in the world.

“I think it’s a good idea (the summit), I want Zelensky to be here too … with this thing,” explains Don Cressley, who lives in the city of Alaska of North Pole and visit a fishing trip with his grandson.

He wants the end of the war “because of the destruction they make to all cities, to all buildings, making everyone more homeless, removing their food, their supplies, their lives immediately”.

Donald Trump, he says, does a “great job” in the cease-fire negotiations.

While the American president often speaks warmly about his relationship with Vladimir Putin, the tensions of superpower persist and feel more strongly here.

Moscow military planes are regularly detected by flying near the Alaska coast. And in January, Canadian and American fighter planes were scrambled after several Russian planes were spotted in the Arctic, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

This generates a feeling of discomfort for some Alaska who live closer to Russia than Washington DC.

“Although the Cold War is finished between Russia and the United States, they constantly patrol our respiratory tract,” said Russell Wilson, an anchorage resident.

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

However, other Alaskians consider a return to hostilities of the Cold War are the wacky fantasy.

I ask the army veteran Christopher Kelliher if he is concerned about a Russian invasion. “Not really, everyone in Alaska has a firearm,” he replied.