Former NBC host Chuck Todd argued on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin made a "huge miscalculation" not giving President Donald Trump a "win" during the Alaska peace summit this week.

The Trump-Putin summit will take place in a former Russian colony that the United States bought for $7.2 million in 1867. Here’s how the deal came together and why its legacy matters.

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

In the early hours of Saturday morning following a summit in Alaska between the leaders of Russia and the United States, senior politicians in Moscow were quick to trumpet the meeting as a win for Russia and its narrative of the war in Ukraine.

Russia's decision to sell Alaska was influenced by its financial struggles following the Crimean War and the desire to strengthen ties with the United States, a fellow rival of Great Britain. Selling Alaska provided Russia with much-needed cash and ensured that Britain would not gain control of the territory.

"Every single sanction that was in place on the day he took over remain. And every – the impact of all those sanctions remain,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a press meet.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held calls on Saturday with his Turkish and Hungarian counterparts, the Russian foreign ministry said, hours after a summit between the U.S. and Russian presidents yielded no deal on ending the war in Ukraine.

ANCHORAGE—Dozens of Russian Orthodox faithful joined in prayer ahead of Friday’s summit between President Trump and Vladimir Putin, hoping for peace between Russia and Ukraine. “Let our leaders yearn for peace when they meet,