Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a government agency to search for properties abroad that belonged to the Soviet Union and even the Russian Empire. This was recently reported by the state news agency “Tass”.
Putin signed two decrees related to his order on January 18. A decree allows for the provision of funds for searching, registering property rights and “legal protection” of property, according to Tass. The other decree provides funds for the maintenance and management of the properties. The documents did not reveal how much money the Russian government is allocating for this purpose.
This also means land that belonged to the times of the Tsarist Empire and the Soviet Union: including Alaska.
Selling as a “bargain”
The largest US state is also one of the most sparsely populated. The area belonged to the Russian Empire until 1867. But inaccessible nature and lack of money prompted the tsar to sell the huge area. The USA paid $7.2 million for Alaska at the time – a ridiculous price.
In 2014, Putin once spoke about the deal in a television program. At the time, he called the sale a “bargain” but also said people shouldn’t be upset about it because, the Kremlin chief continued: “Russia is a northern country, 70 percent of its territory is in the north and the far north. Alaska is located “Not in the southern hemisphere either, right? It’s cold out there too.”
“Exact parameters unclear”
A Telegram post by a military blogger states that after Alaska, parts of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia could be declared Russian “possession” again. Even the London Institute for the Study of War is looking at the new list of old properties, but notes that “the exact parameters of what constitutes current or historical Russian property are unclear.”
However, the Kremlin could use this as a “protective power” of its claimed property to promote mechanisms that ultimately aim at destabilization, it is said.
