President Donald Trump on Friday showed off a photograph he said Russian President Vladimir Putin sent him of them standing side by side a week ago in Alaska.Trump brandished the picture in the Oval Office as he announced the 2026 World Cup draw will be hosted in Washington at the Kennedy Center.

“The symbolism of Alaska would be a reminder of how it was possible for the United States and Russia for most of the 19th century to transcend their ideological and political differences and their expansionisms, to have warm, friendly cooperative relations,” says David S. Foglesong, a history professor at Rutgers University - New Brunswick.