State Department responds to Putin on Alaska: 'Certainly he's not getting it back'

[Tom of Temecula]

The State Department on Monday brushed off reports of Russian President Vladimir Putin ordering his government to look into the nation’s former “real estate” abroad, saying Alaska would be staying in American hands. Putin signed a new decree last week to allocate funds for the research and registration of Russian property overseas, including that in former territories of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union, Russian state media TASS reported.

The decree, which comes amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, did not specifically mention Alaska, though it caught the attention of military bloggers, who argued Putin was using the decree to declare the 1867 Russian sale of the Last Frontier State to the U.S. is illegal. “Well, I think I can speak for all of us in the U.S. government to say that certainly he’s not getting it back,” State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said during a Monday press briefing, prompting laughter from his audience.

The Institute for the Study of War last week noted the “exact parameters of what constitutes current or historical Russia property are unclear.”

“The Kremlin may use the ‘protection’ of its claimed property in countries outside of its internationally recognized borders to forward soft power mechanisms in post-Soviet and neighboring states ultimately aimed at internal destabilization,” the institute wrote in an assessment of the Russian offensive campaign.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/4423913-state-dept-putin-alaska-russia/

Cited TASS article:

https://tass.com/russia/1734479

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Wacky story.....Putin's getting more Trump-like every day.

[getagrip_already]

2. so why hasn't the MSM put a mike in stinky's face and asked him?

If putin demanded alaska back, would he give it up? What price would he ask?

[lapfog_1]

3. he might swap it for Greenland

Never mind that Russia doesn't own Greenland

[Wounded Bear]

4. trump would trade Alaska away for a bucket of chicken and a Diet Coke...nt

[former9thward]

11. Putin did not say or do that.

It was fake news that many fell for.

[getagrip_already]

13. It is and it isnt....

When it is played up on russian TV and in telegram posts, it is all but official without being anything putin said.

It's mob speak.

He said it without saying it. Nobody fell for anything.

[former9thward]

14. Yes, they did and still do.

They posted in many OPs on this site that the Alaska sale was declared null and void by Putin. Completely false.

[LiberalFighter]

5. We could give him Sarah Palin.

[keithbvadu2]

6. I cannot see Putin making serious claims on Alaska and some of these other places, but he is definitely using it to rati

I cannot see Putin making serious claims on Alaska and some of these other places, but he is definitely using it to rationalize taking Ukraine on a phony, quasi-legal basis.

[GuppyGal]

7. We should not even be dignifying that with at response. nt

[former9thward]

12. It was fake news.

The spokesperson knew that and was making a joke about it.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. Putin has set his price for Russia's help in TFG reelection campaign

Link to tweet

[tavernier]

9. Definitely not

But we might negotiate Texas.

[ornotna]

10. To quote the wingnuts who seem to love Putin

Molon labe.

Not gonna happen.