US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Anchorage Alaska on Friday to discuss how to end the war in Ukraine.
The venue for the high-profile meeting is Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a US military installation on the northern edge of Alaska's most-populated city.
The US purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, lending a historical resonance to the meeting. It became a US state in 1959.
White House officials have said the base satisfied security requirements for hosting two world leaders. And, during the height of summer tourism, there were few other options for the hastily arranged meeting.
Three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine this summer, held at Trump's behest, have yet to bring the two sides any closer to peace.
The venue has roots tracing back to the Cold War, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson is Alaska's largest military base. The 64,000-acre installation is a key US site for Arctic military readiness.
Snow-capped mountains, icy lakes and picturesque glaciers frame the base, which regularly shivers through temperatures as low as -12ËšC in winter.
However the leaders can expect comparatively pleasant temperatures of around 16ËšC on Friday.
When Trump visited the base during his first term, in 2019, he said the troops there "serve in our country's last frontier as America's first line of defence".
More than 30,000 people live on the site, accounting for approximately 10% of the population of Anchorage.
Built in 1940, the base was a critical air defence site and central command point to ward off threats from the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
At its peak in 1957, it hosted 200 fighter jets, and multiple air traffic control and early warning radar systems, earning it the nickname of "Top Cover for North America".
The base continues to grow today due to its strategic location and training facilities.
Alaska’s Anchorage is between Russia and Canada close to the Bering Sea.
Russian presidential assistant Yuri Ushakov pointed out that the two countries are neighbours, with only the Bering Strait separating them.
"It seems quite logical for our delegation simply to fly over the Bering Strait and for such an important and anticipated summit of the leaders of the two countries to be held in Alaska," Ushakov said.
The last time Alaska took centre-stage in an American diplomatic event was in March 2021, when Joe Biden's newly minted diplomatic and national security team met their Chinese counterparts in Anchorage.
