Sentiment toward Russia in Alaska has cooled since Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022. The Anchorage Assembly voted unanimously to suspend its three-decade-long sister city relationship with Magadan, Russia, and the Juneau Assembly sent its sister city of Vladivostock a letter expressing concern.

When US President Donald Trump meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday to discuss ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine, the pair will meet for their first face-to-face encounter since Russia’s full-scale invasion began on US turf with close geographic and cultural links to Russia.