Putin Ally Calls for Alaska's Return to Russia
Source: Newsweek
Published Dec 28, 2024 at 3:05 PM EST Updated Dec 28, 2024 at 4:18 PM EST
Russian TV host Vladimir Solovyov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, recently called for Alaska's return to Russia during a recent Russian-state media program. Newsweek has reached out to Russia's foreign ministry and the U.S. State Department via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Alaska once belonged to Russia. In 1867, it was sold to the United States after then-President Andrew Johnson signed the Alaska Treaty. It gained the status of a state on January 3, 1959. Alaska and Russia are positioned about 53 miles apart at their closest point. Tensions around Russia and Alaska intensified in January 2024 when reports surfaced that Putin was looking into reobtaining Alaska, reviving an effort pushed by Russian media throughout the ongoing war in Ukraine that Moscow could seize the state.
Tensions remain high between North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Russia amid the Russian-Ukraine war as NATO leaders have increasingly warned that direct conflict with Moscow is a realistic danger. This comes after Putin and senior Russian officials have repeatedly threatened nuclear escalation against Kyiv and its Western partners since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Last month, Putin upped Moscow's nuclear rhetoric after the U.S. allowed Kyiv to use longer-range ATACMS to strike inside Russia, formalizing changes to his country's nuclear doctrine that lowers the threshold for atomic weapons use. Along with the nuclear threat, NATO members such as Germany and the Baltic states have accused Moscow of hybrid attacks and said after the Ukraine war, Moscow could then make a move on countries in the alliance.
Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/vladimir-solovyov-calls-alaskas-return-russia-2006979
Rhiannon12866
(225,879 posts)Justice matters.
(7,659 posts)from that continuing sh!t show.
NotHardly
(1,458 posts)keithbvadu2
(40,821 posts)SergeStorms
(19,373 posts)as he is a fawning fan-boy, or a mewling sycophant, even. Trump worships Putin.
They both make me physically ill.
Walleye
(36,898 posts)RazorbackExpat
(226 posts)because she knows that switching from R to D in Alaska would be committing political suicide
C0RI0LANUS
(2,394 posts)DetlefK
(16,518 posts)The original medieval kingdom of Russia, the Kievan Russ and its capital Kijv, stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, across what is modern-day Belarus and modern-day Ukraine. From there, it expanded east with various wars of conquest (the capital was relocated eastwards to Moscow) until it eventually reached the Pacific Ocean.
Maybe Russia should return all their stolen territories to the natives it has subjugated. Isn't it odd that the vast majority of taxpayer-money gets invested into Moscow and St. Petersburg, in classical ethnic-russian territory, while the eastern territories where other ethnicities live get next to nothing?
C0RI0LANUS
(2,394 posts)20th-century Czarist subjugants:
brush
(58,333 posts)C0RI0LANUS
(2,394 posts)"White Sun of the Desert" (1970) is about a Soviet soldier fighting in Turkmenistan and is watched by cosmonauts for good luck.
RVN VET71
(2,805 posts)I know the Russians had established an outpost in California and may lay an absurd claim there. But Hawaii?
Anyway, I think Putin is smart enough to know the suggestion he take back Alaska is a stupid one. But it's interesting that one of his associates should make such idle dreams public. Russia can pummel a nation like Ukraine, sacrificing its own youth to do so. But on the international scale, sans nukes, Russia is militarily a feeble mouse -- thanks to Pooty-Poot.
(And, yes, the "nukes" thing is very concerning.)
BumRushDaShow
(145,393 posts)is to mock 45 and his insistence on "taking over" Canada, Greenland, and Panama.
GB_RN
(3,265 posts)Has made this statement. Probably the exact same asshole, Id bet.
BumRushDaShow
(145,393 posts)Polybius
(18,724 posts)When was Cali Russian territory?
BadgerMom
(3,012 posts)Fort Ross is still there as a California State Historic Park. It was occupied as a settlement from 1812-1842. The fort was the southernmost Russian outpost on the west coast of North America. My guess is the tsar might not have abandoned it if it had remained active until 1849 and the discovery of gold in the Sierra.
As far as a claim goes, Im reminded of how my dog claims various bushes every time he takes a walk. Thirty years is nothing. Putin can pound sand. What an asshole.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipMOyX-ILCKPz70grm4xA8qSgJMJOtOu3zf_5MIz=s831-w831-h624-n-k-no
https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=449
DickKessler
(392 posts)GB_RN
(3,265 posts)We paid Russia for it. Not giving it back and you assholes cant afford to buy it back.
You want it? Come and take it. See what happens. Of course, that assumes your troop transport ships will even float once loaded. Based on what Im seeing of Russian military equipment involved in the War in Ukraine, Im betting none of them are seaworthy. Id also bet transport planes arent much better off, and Im pretty sure most of your nukes would blow up in their silos.
(The Russians have never put much emphasis on routine maintenance like Western militaries do. A lot of their ships arent much better than garbage scows, as put by someone I know.)
The second most powerful army in Ukraine is a paper tiger.
SergeStorms
(19,373 posts)some troops to put aboard those troop transport ships. He's running out of those very quickly as well. The few who aren't killed or who defect to the Ukrainians are damned tired of fighting Putin's stupid ego-driven wars.
RVN VET71
(2,805 posts)Bengus81
(7,584 posts)bronxiteforever
(9,649 posts)what would be his sale price?
The Madcap
(742 posts)"Fox News" in Russian? Solovyev would be working for them if he were American. He's a blathering fool.
Response to BumRushDaShow (Original post)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
GiqueCee
(1,586 posts)... and is determined to rule the world. The entire planet is in mortal danger as long as this putrid little man fouls it with his continued existence.
Dan
(4,187 posts)Dan
(4,187 posts)Saving deal (for Trump) in Ukraine.
Failing that, I think Trumps first term asking price was $10B.
AZ8theist
(6,613 posts)The ridiculous things this psychopath has said on Russian TV is so over the top, not only can he not be taken seriously, one has to question his sanity.
Not only has he talked about "nuking" just about every Western capital, he claimed it would be the same as Sodom and Gomorrah.
His drooling blitherisms are increasingly unhinged:
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vladimir_Solovyov
He's the "Baghdad Bob" of Russia
joanbarnes
(1,904 posts)brush
(58,333 posts)It was called Seward's Folly at the time, 1867. The price was 7.2 million greenbacks. Sec'y Seward was ridiculed but he certainly has the last and huge laugh now as Alaska is worth thousands of times more withall of it's size and resources...and of course it's modern infrastructure that has been developed.
I doubt neither Russia of Canada can afford to buy it now.
LiberalFighter
(53,532 posts)AKwannabe
(6,472 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(156,461 posts)Putin spent a great deal to re-elect trump and trump will be looking as to how to repay his debt to Putin
uncledad
(111 posts)And give them Texas and Florida?
bdamomma
(66,958 posts)eff off.
Seinan Sensei
(777 posts)... France wants Louisiana back
Iggo
(48,657 posts)Figarosmom
(3,709 posts)Will tsf do it?
Iggo
(48,657 posts)Figarosmom
(3,709 posts)To enforce the laws are we sure he will bother with them?
I'm not so sure there are people that would stop him.
heckles65
(614 posts)We got Russia off the continent.
Even if Alaska was completely uninhabitable and didn't have a dime's worth of resources, it was worth it.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(117,334 posts)okaawhatever
(9,560 posts)electric_blue68
(19,228 posts)BlueKota
(3,788 posts)Hey if this is the way they want it, tsf's incoming administration should start by returning all of North America back to the Native Americans.
RazorbackExpat
(226 posts)You accepted $7.2 million in American gold (equivalent to about a billion dollars today) to relieve yourself of a territory that you were unable to maintain. You legally gave up your claim to Alaska in 1867. Deal with it.