A Russian politician and mouthpiece for president Vladimir Putin has called for Alaska to be returned to Russia as a form of “reparation”.
Russian State Duma member Oleg Matveychev told a TV host on Sunday that Russia “should be thinking about reparations” from the United States for sanctions imposed on Russia following its war on Ukraine, as the Daily Beast reported.
The brazen request formed part of a list of future demands from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine under the false guise of “demilitarisation” and “deNazification” of Ukraine, although analysis suggests Moscow has so far failed in its aims to topple Kyiv.
“We should be thinking about reparations from the damage that was caused by the sanctions and the war itself, Mr Matveychev told Russia1, the Kremlin-controlled broadcaster, on Sunday. “Because that too costs money and we should get it back.”
Asked whether or not that included Alaska and a former Russian settlement in California, Mr Mateychev told host Vladimir Soloviev he wanted “all Russian properties” to be returned after billions in sanctions were imposed on Russia for invading Ukraine
That included “those of the Russian empire, the Soviet Union and current Russia, which has been seized in the United States, and so on ... As well as the Antarctic ... We discovered it, so it belongs to us,” Mr Matveychev added, according to reports.
While Alaska was sold by the Russian Empire in 1867 in an agreement known as the Alaska Purchase following an end to Russian expansion in the Americas, Fort Ross, the country’s southernmost settlement in the United States, was meanwhile abandoned by 1841 as the Arctic fur trade declined.
The Sunday night episode of Sunday Evening With Vladimir Soloviev also saw Mr Matveychev call for “the lifting of all sanctions....The dissolution of NATO,” and the return of all Russian Olympic medals following a Russian “victory” in Ukraine.
A “military tribunal” for so-called Ukrainian “terrorists” will be carried out, according to the Russian MP, in remarks that were not dissimilar to reports about Moscow panning on carrying out public executions after taking Ukraine.
While Russians have so far been told that its forces are “liberating” Ukraine from a “Nazi” president, Moscow has waged a full-scale war on Kyiv without reason, causing civilian deaths and a widespread humanitarian crisis.
Russia has suffered heavy losses, with an estimated thousands of Russian soldiers killed in its war against Ukraine so far, although Moscow has rebuked such figures – or any news that suggest it was losing.
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski tweeted on Tuesday night about the claims to her state, with a meme of American country star Taylor Swift and the words: “That will never, ever, ever happen!”
