Version imprimableAnchorage, Alaska – As President Donald Trump prepares to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15 to discuss the Ukrainian crisis, Native Movement stands with Alaskans and those across the country who condemn any attempt to legitimize Russia’s war crimes on Alaskan lands.
Alaska knows the cost of Russian imperialism. For over a century, Russian colonizers stole and exploited land, decimated Alaska Native populations through violence, disease, and enslavement, and erased cultures with religious supremacy. Today, we see the same imperial playbook in Ukraine: annexation of territory, targeting of civilians, and the forcible deportation of over 20,000 Ukrainian children—a war crime under international law.
Alaska’s history with Russian rule doesn’t make us neutral — it makes us witnesses.
The decision to host Putin, a war criminal, on Alaskan soil is a betrayal of our history and the moral clarity demanded by the suffering of Ukraine and other occupied peoples.
Native Movement voices opposition to any deals that force Ukraine to cede territory, reward aggression, or silence the voices of those whose lives are at stake. We stand against the rise of fascism and violent occupation everywhere—whether in Ukraine, Palestine, or here in Alaska. None of us are free until all of us are free.
Alaska’s own experience with resource-driven governance shows how oil wealth erodes democracy and empowers authoritarianism, just as we see in Russia’s war on Ukraine. Hosting war criminals in Alaska is a betrayal of our communities and our future.
Petro-states like Russia and the U.S. have built empires on extractive violence. Oil wealth correlates with increased crime and political corruption. Alaska’s large military presence is tied not to community safety but to protecting oil and gas infrastructure, resource extraction, and broader U.S. economic and military interests.
Meanwhile, Russia floods global markets with hatchery-raised salmon, undercutting Alaska fisheries, destabilizing prices, and threatening wild stocks. These hatcheries, concentrated in Sakhalin and Kamchatka, release hundreds of millions of juvenile salmon annually. Indigenous communities, who have long relied on salmon for food, culture, and spiritual practice, are disproportionately affected. Bycatch isn’t just waste, it’s a symptom of broken systems. Current regulations in the U.S. and Russia ignore the compounding ecological harm and force Indigenous communities to bear the full burden on conservation while outside investors reap the profits.
Therefore, we reject deals that reward extractive violence, whether through war, occupation, or climate destruction. Resource-driven regimes not only silence dissent; they deepen gender inequality and erode community well-being. Petro-states often build national pride around oil wealth, masking inequality and environmental harm. In contrast, Indigenous cultures emphasize stewardship, reciprocity, and sustainability.
We reject any deals that:
– Reward extractive violence, whether through war, occupation, or climate destruction
– Reward territorial conquest through violence
– Legitimize ANY war criminal’s crimes
– Ignore the voices of those whose land and lives are at stake
We demand:
– No legitimization of war criminals on our soil
– Justice for every child stolen from their families
– Recognition that territorial sovereignty cannot be negotiated away by outside powers
– Accountability for war crimes, not rewards for aggression
Alaska was never Russia’s to sell
The 1867 Treaty of Cession between Russia and the United States is often depicted as a sale of Alaska for $7.2 million. But this narrative erases the sovereignty of Alaska’s Indigenous nations and misrepresents the nature of Russian presence in the region.
Russia’s colonial footprint in Alaska was limited, they never controlled or occupied the whole of Alaska. Defeated in battles with the Tlingit and Ahtna nations, Russian settlers were confined to a few trading posts and some parcels of land. They never fully colonized or controlled the vast territory they claimed.
The Treaty of Cession did not transfer ownership of Alaska; it transferred Russia’s claim to the land, not legal title. Indigenous nations have long-standing governance systems and did not recognize Russian sovereignty. Captain Charles Bryant of the U.S. Treasury Department reported in 1870, the Tlingit "never recognized the Russians as owning their land" and believed Russia had no right to sell it.
Many Alaska Native leaders protested the sale, asserting that they were rightful stewards of the land. The treaty classified Native peoples as "uncivilized tribes," denying us citizenship and legal recognition unless we abandoned our cultures and assimilated to "white man ways." When it should have been settler colonialists assimilating to our way of life, as we thrived and cared for these lands for millennia. This racist framework laid the foundation for genocide, land theft, and cultural erasure.
The sale of Alaska was not a legal transfer of land, but a colonial transaction that ignored Indigenous sovereignty. The U.S. government assumed control without consultation, and Alaska Native peoples were left in legal limbo, denied rights to our own traditional lands and territories, resources, and self-determination.
Today, we reject the legacy of this illegal and unethical sale. We honor the original nations of Alaska, whose stewardship predates colonization and whose rights remain unceded.
Alaska’s Indigenous communities, survivors of Russian colonialism, speak from hard-earned moral authority. We know the pain of land treated as a commodity, people as expendable, and children as property to be seized. Our history makes us witnesses to the struggles of Ukraine, Palestine, and all peoples fighting for their sovereignty and justice for their future generations.
We call on Alaskans and the global community to join us in saying: Not again. Not in Ukraine. Not in Palestine. Not anywhere. Alaskans stands with Ukraine and all oppressed peoples because we know the true cost of imperialism and fascism. No deals with war criminals.
14 August 2025
Source: Native Movement.
