Trump and Putin summit Excitement and trepidation grip Anchorage in run-up to Ukraine talks

Excitement and trepidation grip Anchorage in run-up to Ukraine talks

- Aisha Kehoe Down

It is set to be one of the last good summer weekends in Anchorage, Alaska – the peak of the salmon run and berry season – and residents hope that today's summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is not going to ruin it for them.

"I'm looking forward to taking my boat out on the water at Prince William Sound – that's my plan," said Andy Moderow, who works at a conservation non-profit in Anchorage.

Jeff Landfield, the owner of the Alaska Landmine news site, said: "We've had a pretty good summer. Getting projects done, going out hunting, fishing, camping, four-wheeling. But it's coming to the close of the season, so I've seen several people say, 'They better not fuck up my plans.'"

The largest city in Alaska, Anchorage sits farther north than Oslo and St Petersburg. With a population of just under 300,000, its downtown sits on mud flats above the Cook Inlet, at the base of the Chugach mountains. Its neighbourhoods sprawl on wide streets between strip malls and stands of birch; its downtown shops sell Alaska Native handicrafts and bear and moose-themed souvenirs.

Residents refer to the rest of the US as "the lower 48", and see themselves as having "an independent streak", said Colleen Heaney-Mead, who runs a daycare facility in Anchorage.

"We don't want to be part of whatever is happening there," she said, discussing the Trump administration's actions in the contiguous US. "We don't have to do everything they do."