State Department Responds To Putin On Alaska: 'He Certainly Won't Get It Back'

The State Department on Monday dismissed reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered his government to investigate the country's former “real estate” abroad, saying Alaska would remain in American hands.

Putin signed a new decree last week to allocate funds for research and registration of Russian property abroad, including in the former territories of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, Russian state media TASS reported.

The decree, issued amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, did not specifically mention Alaska, although it caught the attention of military bloggers who argued that Putin was using the decree to promote Russia's sale of the last border state to the United States in 1867 to declare illegal.

“Well, I think I can speak for all of us in the U.S. government and say he certainly won't get it back,” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said during a news conference Monday, drawing laughter from his audience out of.

The Institute for the Study of War noted last week that “the precise parameters of what constitutes current or historical Russian property are unclear.”

“The Kremlin could use the 'protection' of its claimed property in countries outside its internationally recognized borders to advance soft power mechanisms in post-Soviet and neighboring states that are ultimately aimed at internal destabilization,” the institute wrote in an assessment of the Russian Offensive campaign.

It pointed to a Telegram post by a military blogger that suggested Russia could start passing the law in Alaska and parts of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

In a question-and-answer before a studio audience in 2014, Putin called the 1867 sale “cheap” and argued people should “not be upset about it.”

“We can charge the equivalent amount, but it was definitely cheap. Russia is a northern country, 70 percent of its territory is in the north and far north. Alaska isn't in the southern hemisphere, is it? It's cold out there too. “Let’s not get excited about it, okay?” he said.

While Putin appeared to downplay the sale, Russian lawmaker Sergei Mironov suggested in December that Moscow would retake its former territories in the future.

“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 give back Texas and the rest. It is time for Americans to think about their future. And also about Alaska,” Mironov said wrote on Xformerly Twitter, last month.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev joked later Monday about the Foreign Ministry's response: Write to X“According to a State Department official, Russia will not get back Alaska, which was sold to the United States in the 19th century. So that's it. And we waited every day for the return. Now war is inevitable,” with a laughing emoji attached.