The President of the United States Donald Trump and the Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will meet on Friday 15 August in the military base of Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, the largest city of Alaska, to discuss the war in Ukraine and on a possible ceased for the fire for the conflict that started in 2022. It is a historical event, being the first meeting between Putin and an American president Russian of Ukraine (the last one had taken place in June 2021 between Putin and Biden) and also the first time Trump and Putin will meet after having seen the G20 in Japan in 2019.
But why was this military base in Alaska and, above all, how is it made? The reasons have to do with the safety levels of the Elmendorf-Richardson base and with the proximity of Alaska to Russia. To be considered, however, there is also the fact that an international arrest warrant emitted by the International Criminal Court in 2023 hangs towards Vladimir Putin.
So let’s see how the military base is made to Anchorage and because the Trump administration proposed this location.
The US military base map in Anchorage where the Trump-Putin summit will be held
The construction of the Elmendorf-Richardson base began on June 8, 1940, with the aim of creating a permanent military aviation field 10 km from Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska (about 300,000 inhabitants) overlooking the Cook Bay. Initially, however, the base was divided into two installations: the Elmendorf Field Field (United States Air Force) and the military base of Ort Richardson of the American army (US Army). The definitive integration came only in 2005, when the two units were definitively incorporated following a reorganization established by the federal authorities.
With the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the tensions between the USA and the Soviet Union (which then resulted in the Cold War), the base took on an increasingly strategic role for the defense of North America, being in an ideal position in the event that it had been necessary to direct an attack towards the USSR, just 88 km away.
Originally, in fact, the base housed only 500 soldiers and had a shooting range, a hospital and some accommodation and warehouses nearby. With the Cold War, however, the United States focused on the strengthening of air defense and allocated a good part of the military funds to Alaska.
Today the base of Elmendorf-Richardson is divided into 11 districts, which include a headquarters of the National Guard, several military training centers and a district reserved for Air Force. It is the largest military base in all Alaska: it houses more than 32,000 people, about 10% of the population of Anchorage, of which 5,500 military personnel members. Inside there are also 3 bases of the American Air Force, two general quarter of the US army brigades and 75 lieutenant units.
His mission is to provide “ready -made forces, completely prepared for a rapid deployment all over the world, promote security and protection and take care of our aviators, soldiers, civilians and families at home”.
The security level of the Elmendorf-Richardson base in Alaska
As happens for the other US military bases in the United States and in the world, access to the base of Elmendorf-Richardson is strongly limited: in general, the entrance is guaranteed to the members of the American Defense Department (Department of Defense) and to the members of their families, for which identity verification procedures are envisaged, but also to former army veterans.
However, in some cases, access to the base is also allowed to the so -called “sponsored” guests, that is, to the “sponsored” people and therefore recommended by other members of the Department of Defense, for which they guarantee directly. In these surrounding, however, previ agreements are needed, with the guest who obliges to go to a visitors control center before accessing the area.
The level of safety of the base, among other things, can also be increased in case of particular geopolitical events or for the danger of terrorist attacks. A similar procedure had been launched last June for some NATO bases in Italy, including the Sigonella base, where the alert had been brought to the maximum level for the risk of an attack by the Iranian military forces as a response to the American attack previously immediately. In this case, the FPCC security codes (Force Protection Condition) range from “Normal”, which indicates the absence of any risk or danger, to “Delta”, which means that a terrorist event has occurred directly in the base or in the local area.
Because the meeting between Trump and Putin will be in a US military base in Alaska
But then, why was this base in Alaska chosen? The main reasons are two:
- In 2023 the International Criminal Court issued an international arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin for war crimes committed during the conflict in Ukraine. Precisely for this reason, Trump and the American administration would have chosen a place like the Elmendorf-Richardson base, subjected to the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States (and therefore to total American control), and able to guarantee maximum security to the Russian president, so as to push him to accept the meeting. Organizing the face to face in other locations, in fact, could have represented a risk for Vladimir Putin, which therefore could have refused the American offer a priori.
- In the past, Alaska was a territory part of Russia, which sold it to the USA in 1867 (for 7.2 million dollars) to restore the state coffers after the war in Crimea of 1856. These historical before -ended, combined with the geographical proximity of the base to Russia, are certainly two elements taken into consideration by the Trump Administration: Putin, among other things, will be the first Russian president of history to go to the base in the base.
