US asserts ownership over Alaska in response to Putin's decree on Soviet-era possessions
On Friday, Putin declared a decree to designate funds for the exploration and legal preservation of foreign properties that were once Russia's possessions during the Soviet and Tsarist eras. The responsibility for this decree falls primarily on the Kremlin office for administrative-economic issues and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
4:45 AM EST, January 23, 2024
Several American media outlets, such as "Newsweek," interpreted the decree as an indirect reference to Alaska and a potential challenge to its sale to the US in 1876.
"On behalf of all of us in the U.S. government, I can assure you, he definitely will not get Alaska back," said State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel at a press briefing on Monday.
The Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, responded humorously to Patel's statement.
"According to the representative from the State Department, Russia will not recover control over Alaska, which the United States bought in the 19th century. Well, that's that, then. We were anticipating its return any day now. Seems a war is inevitable now." Medvedev wrote a wry post on the X portal, ending with a smiley emoticon.
Many statements issued by Russian media or government representatives are widely seen as elements of propaganda. Russia has been known to engage in such information warfare.
Source: PAP, X
