Alaska’s energy resources could be up for discussion at Friday’s meeting between Trump and Putin, according to a report.
Newsweek has mapped the coastal areas around Alaska that could be part of an incentive deal President Donald Trump offers Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war with Ukraine.
Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that access to Alaska’s natural resources—oil and gas—could be up for discussion when the leaders meet in Anchorage on Friday, as well as rare earth minerals in Ukraine and lifting some sanctions on Russia’s aviation sector.
A White House official told the Daily Telegraph that it would not comment on deliberative conversations that may or may not be happening. Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment.Why It Matters
The Bering Strait separates Alaska from Russia where they are less than 3 miles apart. As well as being strategically important because of melting Arctic sea ice and expanding shipping routes, it could also be a gateway to considerable undiscovered oil reserves.
Alaska’s oil and gas exploration leases are concentrated on its North Slope facing the Arctic Ocean and in the Pacific-facing Cook Inlet connecting the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage.
In the 1980s, U.S. energy companies drilled into the Bering Sea looking for untapped reserves, but all of those wells have been abandoned and the area is strictly regulated because of environmental concerns.
There has been angry online reaction to the unconfirmed report that Alaska’s resources could be part of a deal with Putin.What To Know
Trump will meet with Putin on Friday in Anchorage, where discussions are expected to focus on ending the war in Ukraine which has been raging for 3 1/2 years.
