A top Russian lawmaker warned the United States that Russia may seek to reclaim Alaska in retaliation for U.S. sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.
During a parliamentary session in Moscow on Wednesday, Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Federal Assembly, told the U.S. to think twice before seizing or freezing Russian assets abroad, reminding the U.S. that Alaska once belonged to Russia and the Kremlin may want the land back.
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“Let America always remember, there is a part of [Russian] territory: Alaska,” Volodin said, according to a Ukrainian media outlet. “So when [U.S. lawmakers] attempt to appropriate our assets abroad, they should be aware that we also have something to claim back.”
Pyotr Tolstoy, the vice speaker of the State Duma, followed Volodin’s bluster with his own threat, proposing that Russia hold a “referendum” in Alaska.
The first permanent Russian settlement was established in Alaska in 1784. Russia proceeded to establish several settlements in Alaska until it was purchased from Russia by the U.S. government for $7.2 million in 1867.
Russia’s former Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev also warned the U.S. on Wednesday, saying that the country could face the “wrath of God” if it goes along with international efforts to establish a tribunal to investigate Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
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Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, denounced the U.S. on Telegram, saying that the atomic bombings of Japan during World War II and the atrocities committed during the war in Vietnam were never prosecuted internationally.
“Was anyone held responsible for those crimes? What tribunal condemned the sea of blood spilled by the U.S. there?” Medvedev said.
