Some people wondered if the president was actually announcing he plans to give Alaska back to Russia during Friday's upcoming meeting.

The U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska is happening at a site where East meets West in a place familiar to both countries as a Cold War front line of missile defense, radar outposts and intelligence gathering.

President Donald Trump framed his Friday summit with Vladimir Putin as a moment to feel out the Russian leader’s parameters for ending the war in Ukraine and acknowledged it would take further meetings to strike a final peace deal.