"You know we have an ocean that's separating us, right? A thing called... an ocean," he said. "A big, beautiful ocean. And, uh, they don't, they're right there. So it's a different kind of a thing for them." Trump possibly appeared to be referring to the Atlantic, which separates the U.S. from Europe and the west of Russia. The U.S. is, however, also separated from Russia to the west by the Bering Sea. The coast of the mainland of Alaska, where Trump and Putin met last Friday, is separated by 55 miles of sea from the eastern coast of Russia. At the closest point of any land, Alaska's Little Diomede Island is separated from Russia's Big Diomede Island by 2.4 miles of open water"which turns to ice capable of bearing human weight in winter.