Alaskans share anger and hope as Trump and Putin fly

“Putin should be in prison and he just comes to Alaska like that.”

Hannah Korea is among the sea of Alaski, waving Ukrainian flags on the road leading to the capital, Anchorage.

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

D -Ja Correa, 40 -year -old, left Ukraine in 2019 for love, and six years later, the future of her side can be resolved in her adopted home town.

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, are ready to touch the joint base Elmendorf-Richardson, a 30-minute drive away. Ukraine’s leader Volodimir Zelenski is not invited, something that d -Korea says is “quite sad.”

Among those who are protesting for their arrival is Christopher Kelikh, a 53-year-old military veteran and Alaska’s native.

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

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

The history of this region with Moscow adds additional importance to the top on Friday. The United States bought Alaska from the Russians in 1867 for $ 7.2 million ($ 1.48 million).

Critics called the purchase “nonsense of Searden”, arguing that Earth is a frozen wasteland. But later discoveries of rare earthly minerals and an abundance of oil and gas paid on this label.

The richly decorated churches are among the most visible symbols of Alaska’s Russian heritage. The Orthodox Church of St. Tikhon in Anchorage held three days of prayer before the arrival of the leaders.

Priest Nicholas Cregl, an American who has recently moved to Alaska after living in Russia for seven years, says the conflict is “particularly painful and close to the hearts” of the parishioners.

“We hope this meeting will lead to something … lead to the culmination of this conflict,” says G -n Cragle.

This feeling is shared by fishermen ankle-deep in the creek on the outskirts of the city, attracted by the area by the lure of some of the world’s best salmon.

“I think this is a good idea (the summit). I wish Zelenski would be here too … Take this thing with,” says Don Kresley, who lives in the city of Alaska on the North Pole and attends fishing with his grandson.

He wants the termination of the war, “because of the destruction they do in all cities, all buildings, making all the more unknown, to take away their foods, their supplies, to live immediately.”

Donald Trump, according to him, does a “great job” in negotiations to end the fire.

While the US president often talks warmly about his relationship with Vladimir Putin, the tensions of the superpowers continue and feel more strongly here.

Moscow’s military aircraft are opened routinely flying near Alaska. In January, the Canadian and American fighters were shaken after numerous Russian jets were spotted in the Arctic, according to the North American Aerospace Space command.

This gave rise to a sense of anxiety for some Alaski who live closer to Russia than Washington.

“Although the Cold War ends between Russia and the United States, they are constantly patrolling our respiratory tract,” I tell me Anchorage resident Russell Wilson while fishing.

“If the president does not leave the hammer, we can be the next Ukraine.”

Others, however, believe that a return to the Cold War hostilities are distant fantasies.

I ask army veteran Christopher Kelikh if he is concerned about a Russian invasion. “Not all of them in Alaska have a gun,” he replies.