Russia Threatens To Take Back Alaska From US Over War Sanctions
A top Kremlin official has warned the United States against seizing or freezing Russian assets abroad amid the war, adding that it should remember that Russia could reclaim the state of Alaska.
“Let America always remember, there is a part of [Russian] territory: Alaska,” Russia’s lower house speaker Vyacheslaw Volodin said Wednesday, as quoted by Hromadske. “So when they start trying to dispose of our resources abroad, before they do it, let them think: we also have something to return.”
The state of Alaska was once part of Russia and the latter had previously established several settlements in the area until the U.S. purchased it in May 1867 for $7.2 million. Alaska was formally transferred to the U.S. in October 1867. The purchase marked the end of Russia’s efforts to expand trade and settlements in North America.
The state of Alaska shares close geographic proximity with Russia. Russia’s Big Diomede Island and Alaska’s Little Diomede Island are less than three miles apart.