Rama Krishna Sangem
All eyes of the world are on Elmendorf Richardson joint airbase of the US, Alaska, where President Donald Trump will meet his Russian counterpart Vladmir Putin on August 15. I said the world because, most of the countries including India are eagerly waiting for some outcome – hopefully positively – of the summit meeting between the two leaders. Ending Russia-Ukraine war is top on the agenda of their meeting, but some other issues – long pending sanctions and tariffs too will come up before them.
As the meeting and the venue were announced only a week ago, top officials from both the sides are working round the clock to see that the summit goes on well. US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov are in touch with each other to see thrash out prickly issues out of the talks. Of courser, heavy security arrangements are on ensure full protection to already heavily guarded presidents of the US and Russia.
But why Alaska?
Initially everyone thought Trump and Putin will meet either in Qatar or UAE. But, suddenly they agreed on Alaska, a US territory. We know that Putin faces an arrest warrant from International Criminal Court (ICC) and the US is not a member of the ICC. Interestingly, Alaska is closer point between the US and Russia – just by a distance of 48 km, but timeline wise, by 21 hours.
t Alaska, geographic point lies between the two islands that are the closest lands between the United States and Russia. Known as the Diomede Islands, this pair of islands is located between the coast of Alaska, United States, and midland Siberia which is part of Russia. Little Diomede belongs to the United States, and Big Diomede is part of Russia, separated by a mere 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometers).
This area is the closest country to the United States without sharing a border. Big Diomedes in Russia is only 40 kilometers (25 miles) from mainland Alaska. With around 8 lakh population, Alaska has dozens of star hotels and resorts as world tourists throng here in big numbers. American officials first searched for a suitable hotel for the venue of Trump- Putin summit, but all rooms are pre-booked weeks ahead. So, they finally settled for Elemdorf-Richardson joint airbase for the much awaited and watched meeting of the two presidents.
