Is Russian President Putin Really Planning to Take Back Alaska?
Our readers in Alaska will be heartened by the support they are receiving across the nation.
While the southern border of the United States is as porous as a sieve, our military leadership focuses on woke policies rather than battle tactics, and the Secretary of Defense can suddenly disappear without notice, it is little wonder the news that a recent message that Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the 1867 sale of Alaska “illegal” drew some concern on social media.
Putin signed a new decree last week to allocate funds for the research and registration of Russian property overseas, including that in former territories of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union, Russian state media TASS reported.
The decree, which comes amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, did not specifically mention Alaska, though it caught the attention of military bloggers, who argued Putin was using the decree to declare the 1867 Russian sale of the Last Frontier State to the U.S. is illegal.
The Institute for the Study of War last week noted the “exact parameters of what constitutes current or historical Russia property are unclear.”
“The Kremlin may use the ‘protection’ of its claimed property in countries outside of its internationally recognized borders to forward soft power mechanisms in post-Soviet and neighboring states ultimately aimed at internal destabilization,” the institute wrote in an assessment of the Russian offensive campaign.
It pointed to a Telegram post from a military blogger who suggested Russia could start enacting the law in Alaska and parts of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Putin signed an order insinuating the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867 was illegitimate.
This mofo is trolling the West and our leaders shake in their boots in response. pic.twitter.com/2bLu6ShHDb— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) January 20, 2024
I doubt this will make many Legal Insurrection readers feel better about the current situation, but our State Department promises that Russia is not getting Alaska back.
Quite frankly, I find more comfort in the humor a former Russian president offered up as a response to this analysis.
The U.S. State Department has dismissed reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s revanchism may extend as far as Alaska after the Kremlin issued a new decree regarding historic Russian real estate holdings abroad.
“I speak for all of us in the U.S. government to say that certainly, he is not getting it back,” State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said to laughter during a press briefing on Monday when asked about Moscow’s purported claim on Alaska.
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The Russian president has previously said his compatriots should “not get worked up” about the “inexpensive” deal, though allies of his have also suggested that Moscow may re-open the issue as a territorial dispute.
Dmitry Medvedev—a former Russian president and prime minister who was once considered a potential successor to Putin before being sidelined—also joked about Moscow’s purported claim on Alaska in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“This is it, then,” wrote Medvedev, who was once considered a technocratic, liberal counterweight to Putin but has sought to reinvent himself as an ultra-hawkish supporter of the war on Ukraine. “We’ve been waiting for it to be returned any day. Now war is unavoidable,” Medvedev added, ending his post with a laughing emoji.
According to a State Department representative, Russia is not getting back Alaska, which was sold to the U.S. in the 19th century.
This is it, then. And we’ve been waiting for it to be returned any day. Now war is unavoidable 😂
— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) January 22, 2024
The news about the potential Russian takeover of Alaska appears to be an amalgam of hyperbole and fantasy. However, the social media responses to this drama do underscore how weak Biden is perceived….at home and abroad.
Phew. We get to keep Alaska.
The Biden team tells Putin they aren’t giving Alaska back…..
Biden is so weak I was actually worried he might… https://t.co/528T9lWvZd
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) January 23, 2024
Our readers in Alaska will be heartened by the support they are receiving across the nation.
My reaction to Putin’s declaration that Alaska is part of Russia. https://t.co/HQlFNRa74a pic.twitter.com/Sk6Jr23st6
— Joshua Reed Eakle (@JoshEakle) January 23, 2024
As a California, I am somewhat unhappy with the proposed alternatives being offered to Putin…but I understand.
I was hoping to work a trade for California.
— Anthony Formica (@AnthonyFormic13) January 23, 2024
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Comments
It’s currently -42 in Fairbanks and one of my cars wouldn’t start this morning because I forgot to plug in the engine heaters last night. At this point, I’m willing to give it back. 😉
I read that sometimes the tires just shatter from that kind of cold..
No, but if you move too fast without a face covering it is possible to freeze your lungs by breathing.
At Ft. Knox KY and in West Germany I experienced temps cold enough that tanks could shatter their torsion bars (in their suspensions) when first moving in the morning (often before or just after dawn). Start the engine, put it in gear, give it some gas (diesel, actually) and BANG! Broken torsion bar.
Yes tires can shatter. Airline brought up a plane in summer… Finally used in winter in Fairbanks… Attempted to taxi and all tires shattered.
$7,200,000 in 1867 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $149,227,783.78 today, plus infrastructure improvements. I don’t think Putin can afford Alaska.
I guess you don’t have an EV…
😉
Grey Bob, you win the internet today 😂😂
could be worse. could be electric.
I spent several weeks in Alaska in the winter. The oil is delegated, gold gone, natives hate white people and hate the word Eskimo. The citizens hate each other, the weather, their jobs and let you know about is. Let Russia have it.
Ok, Debbie Downer. Did the lack of sunlight get to you?
I doubt that Putin would force the Alaskans to drive electric cars, ban wood burning stoves to keep warm and force the citizens to worship all the trans madness..
Sounds like a big improvement over Biden and his regime.
Putin has his political opponents killed, jails dissidents, and sends his citizens to die by the hundreds of thousands to fight wars against his neighbors. Does that sound like a big improvement?
lol And the US doesn’t? Wake up. When the US can’t send its people like in the case of Ukraine it just prints money and sends that instead. 200+ wars since the US was founded. Can’t say that about Russia. The country that saved the world from the Nazis.
On October 18, 1867, the U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million
Adjust for inflation, $7,200,000 in 1867 is worth $155,533,183.10 today
Of course, we will have to consider improvements (Gravina Island Bridge alone cost $398 million) and that old lend/lease debt from WWII.
I should have read one more message before posting.
The purchase was actually done in gold, with an official price of $20.67 Today gold is about 103x higher, so the purchase price in today’s dollars is about 742 million.
At the rate the left is going, they won’t have to lift a finger.
Don’t worry — once White people start streaming across the border, the Left will find their nuts, and they will have always been against illegal immigration again.
So… could we call this Putin’s Folly if he seemed to be even remotely serious?
What I’ve always found fascinating about the Russia/Alaska connection is even though Russia is closer to Alaska than Corsica is to either France or Italy (it’s less than 50-miles), the Russians didn’t ‘discover’ Alaska until well into the 18th Century. In fact, Russia didn’t even begin exploring Siberia until almost the 17th Century and didn’t find the Pacific Ocean until 150-years AFTER Columbus discovered the New World. The Ural Mountains may as well have been a portal to another dimension.
Russia had a expeditionary colony in Northern California before the Spanish founded San Francisco. Maybe we could talk Putin into buying Marin and Oakland Counties.
How big is Russia? How about “God is so high and the Czar is so far away”.
Russia and US are even closer at two islands… walking distance in winter,
GreyBob… ah come on… that’s just another nippy day in the Interior. As for the block heater, sorry about that. Have a battery warmer?
To ChrisPeters…. Anchorage (what did Alaska do to deserve Anchorage?) is turning blue and not from temperature. May need Putin’s help to sort that out. Plenty of Russian history though in the state,
Buy Marin and Oakland? At this point, just give it to them. They are both useless and a drain on our resources.
Interesting reading is the history of the West Coast from the Spanish Missions in the south to Russian claims in the North and the almost war between Spain, England, Russia and the Dutch over the North Western Coast.
When Balboa first sighted the Pacific Ocean after crossing Panama he claimed the coast for Spain. Spain took this to mean the entire Pacific Coast from Tierra Del Fuego to the Alaskan Islands. Quite a claim and they put a Fort on Vancouver Island to drive out the Russians and others.
Any chance we could get him to take California and Oregon instead?
Too commie for Russia. They learned their lesson in the 20th century. No need for another Papa Joe Stali… er… Biden.
If the BIg Guy gets 1% of the sale coupled with the R’s losing 2 senate seats I could see some in this administration trying to convince President Biden to consummate the deal.
Good luck getting your military across Siberia to actually invade it, you weak ass commie bitch. Come and take it.
Heh, Rachel Maddow will probably start screaming “if Trump is elected Putin will get Alaska!!!”
My first thought is just that, but with a subnote.
Poor Alaska is about to be held hostage by MSNBC in hopes Trump does not get reelected.
Her smell of desperation is in bad need of Luma body deodorant.
Guess we can scream back “Biden was elected and Putin got a giant chunk of Ukraine”
All those Putin fanboys in the US will have to come out in favor of this I guess, lol.
Fort Ross, California was a Russian fort. I’ve no idea why the Russian river is named the Russian river.
Putin is referring to:
The Grand Duchy of Finland. The Finns are currently blocking a “little green man” border incursion. How do hordes of Syrians end up trying to cross the Rus/Finn border near Vyborg (Viipuri). It’s a mystery!
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania just inked a mutual border defense agreement. Old school trench and tank trap lines and pillboxes.
The Russian leadership are congenital irredentists.
The Russians didn’t explore or map the interior Siberian regions north of Vladivostok (Primorski Krai) until V.K. Arsenviev began surveying 1904/5.
He’s also the man that wrote the memoir-biography Dersu Uzala. He’s Russia’s Lewis and Clark. And deservedly so. His life story is epic.
Surprise me at all. Having a week, feckless, retarded pedophile like Joe Biden in the White House emboldens all sorts of actions nobody considered before.
After all, the last “Worst President of the United States” gave away the Panama Canal.
I wouldn’t put it past the current “Worst President of the Untied States” to give away Alaska.
For a chocolate chocolate chip ice cream cone and pizza. That’s what he eats at the Pennsylvania Avenue Rehabilitation Center and Retirement Community – “where residents are treated like presidents!”
If only we could get the Biden Admin to emphasize the Sovereignty AND Security of all our borders….
Judging from the results in his war since November Putin isn’t in much of a position to threaten anything at least unless he uses biological or nuclear weaponry.
Let’s revisit THAT comment 12 months from now.
We will, just if you are going to claim that a corridor connecting Crimea to the rest of Russia and most of Donbass is worth what Russia lost I would like to see something to back that up.
Why? Two years ago we were hearing what a deadly threat the mighty Russian military was. Then it failed to conquer its smaller, weaker next-door-neighbor. Twelve months from now Putin won’t be more powerful.
Putin has Biden on his side. Grandpa Bad Finger has already threatened American citizens with F-16 bombing – TWICE.
Without American assistance Russia would have won at latest a year ago.
How much of the Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia has Ukraine recaptured since Nov?
Ukraine won’t regain anything it has lost most of Donbass and a corridor connecting Russia and Crimea.
However I just don’t see that as being anywhere near worth what Putin expended.
Danny,
You do understand that the scuffle between Ukraine and Russia is about control of territory? The Russians wanted a buffer and they captured territory to put it into place. The Russians ain’t ‘losing’ until the Ukrainians push them out.
With Alaska in his possession, Putin would start drilling for that oil that the left keeps telling us has to stay where it is.
This gives him real incentive to go after it. So don’t dismiss the idea out of hand.
“our State Department promises that Russia is not getting Alaska back.”
Phew. That’s a weight off my mind. Because our State Department is “safe and effective.”
Actually, now would be Putin’s best ever chance to get Alaska back. If he misses this window, he may kick himself later.
They have been talking about this for years. All countries have plans to invade just about every other one and certainly those that it considers it’s enemies. The US has plans to invade Russia, China, Iran etc.
The United States purchased Alaska from the LEGITIMATE government of Russia, the Tsar.
The benighted heir to the finally defeated communist coup has no claim to ANY of that governments holdings or accomplishments.
Had the same thought. The “Russia” that exists today is not the same “Russia” that may have sold Alaska illegally. Today’s Russia wasn’t involved in the exchange and and therefore doesn’t have a claim. The same thing might be said for Russia’s claims on eastern Ukraine, land which was (presumably legally) transferred to Ukraine by the previous iteration of “Russia” (a republic of the USSR under a completely different government, operating under different laws and procedures).
Might I suggest that Russia consider taking over Seattle WA, Portland OR, and San Fransisco CA? Perhaps the Federal government could see a way to outsource the administration of these cities to the enlightened governance of the Russians. It would likely do little harm and perhaps some good.
How about the original surveyed areas of the west coast inland 20miles from Seattle to San Fran and slightly south? We can have the rest
The people living in Wash, Oregon and Calif should be happy to be ruled by Russia as ir mm they would reap the benefits of socialism.
Russia might be able to swing this deal while Quisling Joe is president. All they have to do is give Biden a huge bribe.
I wonder what they’ll do when the descendants of Kamehameha want Hawaii back?
King Hussein ComeOnIWannaLayYa won’t wanna give up his beachfront property.
He will get as much of Alaska as they say didn’t matter in the first place. Same thing with Ukraine. Same thing with the rest of Eastern Europe/Asia.
Of course, all one would have to do is use committed military might to stop him and his pathetic pile of resources. It’d be much shorter and cheaper than the long proxy wars now.
The Europeans can go ahead and do that on their own without US blood and treasure if they believe it is in their best interest to do so. They won’t and since they Europeans don’t seem overly concerned (they’re still buying Russian Oil and Gas some legit some black market) why should the US be more concerned or put up more resources than the EU is willing to expend?
The us is not neutral and uninvolved. Worse we are half in with the checkbook ready to go.
They could have NYC. We could pay them a little something to make it worth it.
We could pay them about $24 (69 guilders) worth of beads, buttons, and trinkets.
It was good enough for 1626, so it should be a good sell now.
But they have to pay to clean the urine, blood and shit off the streets.
Sold “as is.”
But we don’t do layaway s*. They have to take it home with them.
Looking at the original report I don’t see any substance whatsoever to this whole story, just Democrat anti-Putin hysteria. Read the report yourself, and tell me where it says, or even implies, an ambition to recover property that Russia sold, and therefore no longer belongs to it. All the report says he did was launch a program to search for property abroad that still belongs to Russia, and if any is found make sure the title is properly registered with the local authorities and is protected by the local laws. Suppose Czar Nicholas I’s government bought a plot of land somewhere, and over the course of 200 years and the various revolutions, wars, and general upheaval it has been forgotten about, or it was taken by the local government, or it was held up in some diplomatic dispute over who was the rightful owner, and by now nobody even knows about it. He wants it identified and the title cleared. That’s all. It’s got nothing to do with Alaska, or even with sovereignty at all. Any property so identified and secured would presumably remain subject to the laws and sovereignty of wherever it’s located.
Ah.. someone that actually has reading comprehension. I read the report and came to the same conclusion as you. I think that the several Russians over the last few years that claim Alaska was not sold properly or something and they still own Ft Ross in Cali made a few with a penchant for over wrought reaction headlines for clicks get busy.
Could we negotiate for California, New York, or Minnesota?
Why wouldn’t he?
If he can land a couple divisions to redress some ginned up ethnic Russian claims, it’s all over once we get a bit tired of it, or distracted.
The Biden team isn’t giving Alaska back. They might sell it back under the table if the price is right.