Sentiment toward Russia in Alaska has cooled since Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022. The Anchorage Assembly voted unanimously to suspend its three-decade-long sister city relationship with Magadan, Russia, and the Juneau Assembly sent its sister city of Vladivostok a letter expressing concern.

In the same meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, he told the group that Putin “is bluffing” ahead of the planned meeting with Trump.