Russian politician Vyacheslav Volodin said U.S. lawmakers 'should be aware that we also have something to claim back' in a reference to Alaska.
, stoking fears that the war could spread beyond Ukraine's borders. Volodin's comments suggest that he could support Russia targeting Alaska in retaliation for freezing Russian assets, a move that could start a feared military confrontation between Russia and the U.S.
Alaska was once part of Russia until the U.S. purchased the territory on March 30, 1867, for a price tag of $7.2 million, according to the Library of. In reference to then-Secretary of State William H. Seward, some criticized the deal by calling it"Seward's folly" or"Seward's icebox," but criticism eased in the wake of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896.
Vyacheslav Volodin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and chairman of the State Duma, issued a stark warning Wednesday that Russia has something to reclaim from the U.S.: the state of Alaska. Above, Volodin speaks during the Council of Lawmakers at the Tauride Palace on April 27 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.Alaska didn't officially become a U.S. state until January 1959, the same year that Hawaii also gained statehood, according to the Library of Congress.
Though Russia's ownership of Alaska ended more than a century ago, the country and state share a close geographic proximity. Russia and Alaska, via Russia's Big Diomede Island and Alaska's Little Diomede Island, are less than three miles apart at their closest point in the Bering Strait, according to Alaska's official website. Mainland Alaska and Russia are 55 miles apart at their closest point between Alaska's Seward Peninsula and Russia's Chukotka Peninsula.
Volodin is not the only Russian figure who has spoken about the prospect of Russia taking Alaska back from the U.S., a member of the Duma, told Russian state television earlier this year that Russia should seek the"return of all Russian properties, those of the Russian empire, the Soviet Union and current Russia, which has been seized in the United States, and so on."
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