A propagandist who has frequently backed Vladimir Putin has claimed that Alaska belongs to Russia as tensions between the two countries hit a tipping point.
Russian state TV presenter Olga Skabeyeva referred to the US state as “our Alaska”, according to Russian investigative site Agentstvo, during a broadcast of the Russia-1 program 60 Minutes.
Alaska was sold to the United States in 1867 after the Russian Empire gave up its campaigns to colonise the area after a century.
The sale was agreed for $7.2 million – or approximately $150 million in today’s money adjusting for inflation.
Russia and Alaska are separated by only 53 miles at their closest point in the Bering Sea.
Parts of central and eastern Europe, Scandinavia as well as large chunks of Asia were also once part of the former empire.
Skabeyeva made the remarks after fellow pundit Adalbi Shkhagoshev, a deputy of Russia’s Parliament, the State Duma, commented on a joint patrol staged by Russia and China last week that came within 200 miles of the Alaskan coast.
Shkhagoshev said of the joint patrol: “Our aircraft approached the borders of Alaska.”
He was then interrupted by Skabeyeva, who incorrectly claimed the State Duma deputy had said “our Alaska”, according to Newsweek.
She added: “Right now the head of the Pentagon is hiccupping nervously somewhere. You said ‘our Alaska’, and he just said that if Russian and Chinese planes penetrate the territory that the US considers its own, the US is ready to enter the war.”
Russia has been suspected or overtly accused by European nations of violating their airspace in the past.
On June 14, Finland said it suspected four Russian military planes had breached its borders four days prior.
The following day, Swedish Air Force intercepted a Russian military aircraft violating the Scandinavian nation’s airspace east of Gotland – an island of major strategic importance to NATO’s defence due to its proximity to Russia and the Baltic States.
Putin has reiterated he has no interest in staking a claim over Alaska but supporters of the regime have repeatedly suggested the US state could play a pivotal role in delivering a blow to the United States.
The ultra-nationalist Two Majors Telegram Channel suggested Alaska could be only the first territory to be targeted in a campaign aimed at reclaiming former Russian territories.
