USA Russia summit: Anchorage in Alaska: What kind of place is that?

Actually, Anchorage in the US state of Alaska is particularly attracted to nature enthusiasts: in winter they are skiers. In summer – like now – hikers, fly fishermen and canoeists. At the airport there is a huge bear in a showcase. Tourist brochures advertise with northern lights and reindeer races. The pace here is usually comparatively moderate.

Rush for flights, hotels and rental cars

Now there is a lot different in the city, the approximately 290,000 inhabitants of which can look at an impressive mountain range every day. The occasion: US President Donald Trump wants to receive Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin, and a few minutes drive from the city center on a military base of the US air weapon. As a result, journalists came from Washington, Berlin, Warsaw and other capitals. There was a rush for flights. The hotel prices shot upwards. Rental car? Hard to get.

The rest of the United States lies Canadian area between Alaska. There are ten hours of time difference between Germany and Anchorage in the south of the state.

Trump and Putin want to talk about the Ukraine War on their meetings. The Ukrainians don’t sit at the table. There is worry that the two presidents could communicate with something, with which Kiev and the European allies do not agree. At the same time, there is hope that the meeting may give a decisive impulse for a way out of the war.

The military base off the city

The place of the planned meeting is the US military base Elmendorf-Richardson. A street just outside the largest city of Alaska leads to the entrance to the fenced area. A worn blue line on the asphalt indicates where the press representatives can position themselves. You are not allowed to go to the big entrance.

Camereration teams have therefore set up on this blue line in the grass. The sky is cloudy in the morning these days, it is wet and cold and has around 13 degrees. People have jackets on. If you look around, there is a lot around the terrain: forest.

Trump’s announcement that the meeting should take place here – in the northernmost US state and thousands of kilometers from Washington – came unexpectedly, but is not so absurd.

The place brings a lot of symbolism. Alaska is not far from Russia – at the narrowest point it is only a few kilometers. The Meerenge Beringstrasse separates the area of Russian territory. Alaska belonged to today’s Russia until the middle of the 19th century until the United States bought the area with many mineral resources at the time. To date, it is primarily these mineral resources that make the state economically attractive.

Protest on the roadside – other residents left

One might think that anchorage is in a state of emergency these days, but that’s not necessarily like that – at least not everywhere. In the middle of the city, there was nothing to be seen on the day before the meeting of barriers or a large police contingent.

Elsewhere, however, protest is formed at a busy intersection in the city. The approximately 140 demonstrators show their solidarity with posters and flags, accompanied by a hup concert. Petra, a German who has been living in Alaska for a long time, cannot understand why Putin is “rolled out the red carpet”. Today they want to take to the street again.

But there are also residents who see the events rather calmly. A waitress in a restaurant where there are halibut-bursty and moose hacking, says rather unimpressed: she heard of the president’s meeting. When asked about the geopolitically explosive top meeting, a hobby pilot of his little Cessna, with whom he could not take off – says – the airspace is cordoned off. He does not express an opinion on Trump or Putin.