Is Vladimir Putin trying to retake Alaska

Is Vladimir Putin trying to retake Alaska?

Vladimir Putin signed a decree last week aimed at returning the US state of Alaska to Russia.

• Also read: Ukraine: Seven dead and almost 80 injured in new Russian attacks

• Also read: The Pentagon chief's first public appearance since his secret hospitalization

• Also read: NATO orders 220,000 artillery shells for use by the Ukrainian army

This provocation comes at a time when the Russian army is going on the offensive along the entire front line in Ukraine.

According to information from the media Geo.fr, the Russian president describes the sale of Alaska as unlawful.

“The decree requires the Russian ad hoc government to search all “property of the Russian Federation, the former Russian Empire, the former USSR.” This could certainly apply to the occupied territories in Ukraine, for example Crimea, but the mention of the “Russian Empire” seems to refer only to Alaska, the only territory to leave Russian influence through a transaction at the time had. », Translated the French media.

Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia and former President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev commented on the news on the social network “X”.

“According to State Department officials, Russia will not receive Alaska, which was sold to the United States in the 19th century,” he wrote.

“This is it. And we were waiting for the return of the territory in the coming days. Now war is inevitable,” he adds with a laughing emoji.

This rhetoric, aimed at regaining Alaska from American control, has been spreading in Russia for several years. Already in 2022, a poster with the statement “Alaska is ours” could be seen in Russia.

The territory in America's far northwest was sold to the United States in 1867 for the now obsolete sum of $7.2 million, at which time it became America's 49th state. American Union.

However, some may forget that Alaska is only a few kilometers from Russia. The two countries can join even if the Bering Strait freezes over during the cold season.