According to CNN, American officials scrambling to secure a venue for Friday’s summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin quickly ran into a distinctly Alaskan problem: summer tourism season.
With hotels, conference centers, and other suitable venues packed with visitors, options both available and capable of hosting two world leaders were scarce.
When word spread among prominent Alaskans that Trump and Putin were headed north, a few began reaching out to the president’s allies with an unconventional offer: their homes. It remains unclear whether those suggestions ever reached White House staff.
White House advance teams reportedly contacted sites in Juneau, Anchorage, and Fairbanks, but summit organizers soon concluded that only Anchorage could meet the logistical and security requirements.
Ultimately, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, on the city’s northern edge, emerged as the sole viable location, CNN reported. The choice, however, came with optics the White House had hoped to avoid — hosting the Russian leader on a US military base.
This is the first meeting between a US and Russian president in more than four years. US and Russian officials are still finalizing details, with both sides working quickly to prepare for the high-profile encounter. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke Tuesday to discuss “certain aspects of preparation,” according to Russia’s foreign ministry.
Traditionally, such high-stakes meetings takes months of preparation and haggling over venues and agendas. But this is Trump style: He said he wants to have more of a “feel out” session without expectations. The White House on Tuesday called it a “listening session.”
“The president feels like, ‘Look, I’ve got to look at this guy across the table. I need to see him face to face. I need to hear him one-on-one. I need to make an assessment by looking at him,’” Rubio told radio host Sid Rosenberg, noting that Trump’s five phone calls with Putin this year weren’t enough to gauge the Russian leader’s intentions.
A Temporary Flight Restriction was declared for Anchorage area on Friday, which will greatly impact the movement of smaller non-commercial planes. That story is below: