Alaska again. Trump and Putin will meet in Anchorage, and we remind you of how she ended up in the hands of the United States

On August 15, 2025, Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, will become a scene of global attention. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are to sit down for talks, the subject of which will be the war in Ukraine — scenarios for its conclusion, conditions for ceasefire and the future of negotiations. This is the first time in 30 years erstwhile the USA–Russia summit will take place on American soil.

Photo. thefad.pl / AI

Why Alaska? It is simply a symbolic choice: the closest state of Russia to the U.S., equipped with military and logistical infrastructure, and at the same time safe for the host. The Kremlin rapidly picked up this narrative, and Russian media re-pronounce the slogan "Аляска наша" ("Alaska nasła"), referring to the same imperial symbolism as "Our Crime".

However, before the political performance on the Pacific is held, it is worth reminding us how Alaska got to the US – and why it is inactive a bridge between past and the future.

Scene in Sitka, 18 October 1867

Cool wind over the Pacific, the odor of juicy pine and sea breeze. Before the governor's residence in Sitka, a crowd: Russian soldiers in grey coats, American sailors, Tlingites in furry outfits, que traders whispering about the uncertain future. There's a two-headed Romanov flag flying on the mast. The officer gives a sign... the line moves, but the flag jams in half. 2 sailors climb the mast, trying to unhook it — without success. It's only the 3rd to break the flag that falls on the bayonets of American soldiers. Princess Maria Maksutova faints. The armies are thundering, and the flag of the United States, a symbol of a fresh order on this earth, is drawn on the mast. Russia says goodbye to North America.

“Big Land” — Siberian Pacific Coast

In 1741 the expedition of Vitus Bering and Alexey Chirikov first described the coast of Alaska. shortly after, they moved to these cold, chaotic lands promisctors Russian hunters and fur merchants. The skins of the sea otter, valued in China and Europe like gold, became a currency that drove the colonial ambitions of the Russian Empire. In 1784, a settlement was established in Kodiak, and in 1799 Czar Paul I founded the Russian-American Company — an institution that managed trade and colonization. Sitka became the main port — a wooden town with churches, forts and fur magazines.

However, the Russian presence was fragile and limited. fewer settlers have lived around many indigenous communities. Epidemics brought from Europe have led to a demographic disaster among the Aleuts and Tlingites, and overfishing has almost wiped out sea otters. Thus, the basics of Russian power in Alaska were systematically weakened.

Sale for pennies — Why Russia Gave Alaska

After the Crimean war, the vault of the Russian Empire shone empty, and the distant colony ceased to make profits. The Grand Duke of Constanty warned the Tsar: "Americans will take Alaska by force anyway. Better to sale it than to lose it." The negotiations with Washington have taken place. On the night of 29 to 30 March 1867, after hours of conversation, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and Russian diplomat Eduard de Stöckl have set a price of $7.2 million in gold, which in today's realities corresponds about to $192 million. This meant that the United States bought Alaska for about 2 cents per acre—a territory more than twice the size of Texas.

Although part of the press called this transaction the Seward refrigerator, many commentators saw its strategical sense.

Gold fever, oil and Alaska's strategical value

Klondike in 1896 attracted thousands of prospectors. Alaska has become a dream object. In 1959, it became the 49th state, and the oil discovery in 1968 leveled it with the US's energy powers.

Ice Curtain: Russia's nearest American neighbour

Little Diomede Island is just 3.8 km from the Russian Ratmanov Island. The date change line divides them so that on the 1 hand you can virtually look at the ‘morrow’ on the another side. This geographical vicinity makes Alaska unique in the political landscape.

Meeting in Anchorage through media and politics

According to Reuters and HuffPost Trump, he is to service as a listener — to measure Putin’s kind and his proposals. European leaders, according to the WSJ, are pushing for the preservation of "red lines". Macron condemns any territorial concessions without Kiev's permission. Trump promises "repeated consequences" if Russia refuses to end the war.

Moreover, there are concerns that Trump and his surroundings are investigating a model of “substitute management” of Ukraine — a rubon rather controversial, comparable to the situation in the West Bank of Jordan.

The Italian and British media observe: specified a gathering without Ukrainian participation may match a Munich conference — a symbol of allied betrayal.

The key message remains clear: Ukraine cannot be spoken of in politics without Ukraine.

Symbol and past game

For Moscow, Alaska is an excuse to remind the imperial past — although sales of 1867 were a pragmatic eco-political decision. For America it's a signal: we control the place that erstwhile was an empire. And that past — from fur to pipelines — inactive weighs on the map of geopolitics today.

Anchorage will become a place where past and the present will meet in the spotlight. Will this gathering bring peace? Will Alaska become an arena of fresh agreements or possibly just symbolic gestures? The shadow of a two-headed eagle over this region remains alive.

DF, thefad.pl: Source: Reuters, AP, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, U.S. Department of State (Alaska Purchase), NPS Sitka