Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, has suggested that Moscow could return the US state of Alaska amid growing rhetoric between the two countries over the war in Ukraine.
A longtime aide to Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that Washington must remember that Alaska is part of Russia when it freezes Russian assets, as it did as part of a package of sanctions aimed at punishing the Kremlin for the invasion.
Russia colonized Alaska and established several settlements there until the US bought it from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million.
“When they try to appropriate our assets abroad, they must understand that we also have something to complain about,” Volodin said at a meeting with Russian deputies.
Alaska is rich in oil and gas, and neighboring Russia
(AP)
This is not the first time Russian politicians have raised the issue of returning Alaska to Russian control.
In March, Russian Duma member Oleg Matveychev said on a TV show that the Kremlin “should think about reparations” from the US for sanctions imposed on Russia after its war in Ukraine, including the transfer of Alaska.
“We need to think about redressing the damage caused by the sanctions and the war itself,” Matveychev said. Russia 1, a Kremlin-controlled television company. “Because it also costs money, and we have to pay it back.”
Asked if that included Alaska and the former Russian settlement in California, Mateychev told host Vladimir Solovyov that he wanted “all Russian property” back after billions of dollars in sanctions were imposed on Russia for invading Ukraine.
This included “from the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and current Russia, which was captured by the United States and so on … Just like Antarctica … We discovered it, which means it belongs to us,” Matveychev added.
