The Alaska talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin might have happened on American territory, but the symbolism of their location is a win for the Russian President. Alaska is considerably closer to Russia than it is to the rest of mainland America, and it was once a Russian territory. Putin was returning to a land previously conquered by his people. On Russia’s opposite border, to the west, it is Russia’s imperial past, and Putin’s twisted view of shared history, that worries Europeans.

Narva, Estonia’s third largest city, is a strange place, and seems even stranger since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Narva river – from which the city gets its name – separates Estonia from Russia; two fortresses stand across each other imposing on the landscape, the 13th century Hermann Castle on the Estonian side and the 15th century Ivangorod Fortress on the Russian side. Two other symbols of Russian influence are hard to miss in the town: the Orthodox Church, and a now abandoned 19th century textiles factory that suffered in the years following the collapse of the USSR.

Over 90 per cent of Narva’s population speak Russian. This worries many Estonians, who think Putin could invade under the pretext of protecting this minority. For years, Estonia’s Russian minority wasn’t considered problematic. That has changed since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Estonia has begun........

© The Spectator