A member of Russia’s parliament has demanded reparations from the US including the return of Alaska to Kremlin control.
Oleg Matveychev, a member of Duma, Russia ’s assembly, appeared on state news on Sunday with a series of demands for both Washington and Kyiv.
His list included the return of the 586,412 square mile territory purchased from the Russian Empire by the US, in the 1867 Alaska Purchase deal.
Matveychev demanded Russia be compensated with the American state after his country faced repercussions in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking on the show, Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, he said: “We should be thinking about reparations from the damage that was caused by the sanctions and the war itself, because that too costs money and we should get it back.”
He added: “The return of all Russian properties, those of the Russian empire, the Soviet Union and current Russia, which has been seized in the United States, and so on.”
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Solovyov asked if the lawmaker specifically meant Alaska and the former Russian settlement of Fort Ross, California.
“That was my next point. As well as the Antarctic,” Matveychev said. “We discovered it, so it belongs to us.”
It was unclear if he was questioning the legitimacy of the 1867 deal when the US bought it for £5.5million, over £111million in 2022, or trying to make a political point.
On top of that, Solovyov appeared to get behind a nuclear strike on “those who took our money”.
He said: “I still think that those who took our money should be told, you have 24 hours to unfreeze our funds, or else we’ll send you what you know we’ve got.
“Your choice. Tactical or strategic, take a pick. You took our money, you’re the thieves, our talk is short with you: a bullet to the head,”
The first Russian colony in Alaska was created in 1784, and was called the Three Saints Bay.
Fort Ross, the former Russian settlement Solovyov appeared to demand returned to them, is three hours from San Francisco and was built a the Russian-American Company in 1812.
It was sold into private hands in 1841.
This comes as Russia also slapped a ban on US President Joe Biden along with 12 other senior officials.
The sanctions, which target Hilary Clinton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and CIA director Bill Burns, bans them from entering Russia.
These come in response to continued US sanctions on Russia, which continue to batter its economy.
The US also unveiled fresh sanctions on Belarusian president, and key Kremlin ally, Alexander Lukashenko, along with 11 key Russian defence officials.
The Russian bans are thought to have little to zero effect, Jen Psaki White House press secretary said: “None of us are planning tourist trips to Russia and none of us have bank accounts that we won't be able to access, so we will forge ahead”.
Clinton also responded in a sarcastic tweet, writing: “I want to thank the Russian Academy for this Lifetime Achievement Award.”
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement it was acting “in response to a series of unprecedented sanctions” and was imposing its own measures “on the basis of reciprocity”.
