Fairbanks leaders react to upcoming Trump/Putin Alaskan summit

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) - As preparations continue toward bringing President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson for a summit on the war in Ukraine, Fairbanks leaders spoke with Alaska’s News Source

Fairbanks City Councilmember Lonny Marney called the choice of Alaska for the summit “a beautiful thing,” lauding the attention the president has paid to Alaska.

“He’s had most of his cabinet here, and he’s reopening the state to what it needs to be - is a source of valuable minerals and resources and natural gas, and now it’s, it’s good for the economy,” he said.

However, Marney expressed disappointment that the meeting will not take place in Fairbanks.

“He has more support in Fairbanks. Fairbanks, I think, is a more conservative city,” he said, adding, “I thought Eielson [Air Force Base] would be a better spot, but, at least, you know, at least... he’s coming to Alaska.”

Legislators from Alaska’s interior delegation also spoke about the significance of the event. Sen. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks, said “it was pretty shocking” to find out that Trump and Putin would be meeting in Alaska. He also said it makes sense. His colleague, Rep. Mike Prax, R-North Pole, added that it is “good that they’re in Alaska.”

Kawasaki also mentioned the significance the meeting in Alaska is as “there’s over 1000 Ukrainian refugees that are now stationed and been here in Alaska over the last several years living here because they had to find a way out of their own country, which is very sad.”

Both delegates spoke to the possibility of trade negotiations being part of the discussion between Trump and Putin. “When it comes to trade sanctions, I think that they need to be stiff. I think that they need to do what they need to do in order to get President Putin out of the Ukraine,” Kawasaki said. “I think to give anything from the state of Alaska to Russia; I think that would be a mistake.”

Prax expressed concerns over sanctions. “Sanctions lead to other sanctions,” he said. Prax said that he thinks Trump is using sanctions to bring Putin to the table for discussions.

He said the most important thing that could come from the discussions would be “com[ing] to some resolution of [the war in Ukraine].” Prax added that the two parties need to discuss what went wrong, de-escalation, and avoiding mistakes in the future. “We don’t have to always agree on everything, but we have to recognize the rights of other countries if we want the same thing and we need to talk more,” Prax said.

“I hope that first and foremost that the President of the United States and sort of the United States as a whole pushes back against President, against Putin and his attacks on the Ukraine,” said Kawasaki.

The meeting between Putin and Trump will take place at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.

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