ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — When U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Alaska on Friday, it will be the latest chapter in the 49th state’s long history with Russia — and with international tensions.

Siberian fur traders arrived from across the Bering Sea in the first part of the 18th century, and the imprint of Russian settlement in Alaska remains. The oldest building in Anchorage is a Russian Orthodox church, and many Alaska Natives have Russian surnames.

The nations are so close — Alaska’s Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait is less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from Russia’s Big Diomede — that former Gov. Sarah Palin was right during the 2008 presidential race when she said, “You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska,” though the comment

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