2 days ago
Putin–Trump Meeting Set for Alaska, Former Russian Territory Sold to U.S. in 1867
Separated from the Asian continent by the narrow-cold Bering Strait where the two continents of Trump Putin meet is the United States' biggest state of Alaska. U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Alaska summit on Friday in a bid to find potential solutions to the Russia Ukraine war, now in its fourth year. Alaska itself used to be a part of Russia until the U.S. bought it in the 19th century.
Putin is the first Russian head of Alaska history, which is across the strait from Russia. The move can be a symbolic, but a bitter one for Putin, who cherishes the lands once a part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.
Alaska was a mineral-rich and strategically important Russia diplomacy that the Russian Tsar sold in 1867 to the US for the rock-bottom price of $7.2 million, even at today's rate, a steal. In current dollars, $7.2 million would be about $160 million.
But, at the time, this $7.2 million dollar deal was infamously described as 'Seward's Folly' after the US Secretary of State William H Seward who negotiated it. It was regarded as a frozen wasteland and fool's gold. Alaska is now one of the richest U.S. regions with its vast natural resources and geographic advantages.
Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. more than 150 years ago, in 1867, but President Putin is due to arrive there to attend a headline-grabbing meeting with symbolic overtones.
The location of the meeting itself has a symbolism. It gives Putin a way out of his geopolitical isolation from the West while meeting Trump in the part of the Americas closest to Eurasia. It is also, in some sense, nearer home for Putin.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy utilized an X post to drive home how the Alaska Summit 2025 will serve as a linchpin to make progress on strategic objectives.
