patrick.net

The U.S. State Department on Monday brushed off reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to look into reclaiming what he deems former Russian "real estate," including Alaska.

"Let me just understand that he signed something today that said that the sale of Alaska is illegitimate? Well, I speak for all of us in the, in the U.S. government to say that certainly he is not getting it back," State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said at his daily briefing when asked about the reported decree.

According to the Russian state news agency TASS, Putin signed a decree on Friday to allocate funds to the Russian Department of Foreign Property of the Administrative Directorate of the President of the Russian Federation to cover "the process of searching the real estate property owned by the Russian Federation, the former Russian Empire, the former USSR," as well as for "due registration of [property] rights" and "legal protection of this property."

It is unclear if Putin had his sights on Alaska, but the Institute for the Study of War, an American think tank, noted on Friday that, "A prominent milblogger responded to the decree by implausibly calling for Russia to start enacting the law in "Alaska" and throughout a significant portion of eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia."

"We suggest starting with Alaska, the Dnieper Ukraine, Bessarabia, the Grand Duchy of Finland, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Central Asian states of Russian Turkestan, most of the Baltic provinces, and a significant part of Poland," the Russian nationalist blogger wrote on Telegram, sharing a photo of Putin's decree. "Property can be searched both in the GDR and in other Warsaw Pact countries. An expedition of combat legal defenders has already set out for Africa.

...the prospect of Moscow reclaiming Alaska was also referenced by Russian politician Sergey Mironov as recently as December, when he reacted on X to Venezuela approving a referendum to take over neighboring oil-rich Essequibo region controlled by Guyana.

"Did you want a new world order? Receive and sign. Venezuela annexed a 24th state, Guyana-Essequibo. This is happening right under the nose of the once great hegemon of the United States. All that remains is for Mexico to return Texas and the rest. It's time for Americans to think about their future. And also about Alaska," he wrote on Dec. 6. "