Posts falsely claim Russian decree declares sale of Alaska illegal

“Well, did we not say that Russia will want Alaska back? Yep! Here we go,” reads a post published on X on January 22, 2024. 

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A screenshot of the false post, taken on January 27, 2024

The account, which has over 163,000 followers, alleges that Russian Emperor Alexander II “wrongfully” sold Alaska to the United States. It also suggests that Putin might be pushing for the revocation of the sale because the state has diamond and gold deposits. 

The claim circulated on Instagram (here and here) and appeared in other languages, including Thai (here and here) and Spanish. 

Russia formally transferred ownership of Alaska to the US for US$7.2 million on October 18, 1867 (archived here). But it did not become an American state until January 3, 1959. 

In 2022, the speaker of the Russian lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, warned the US against freezing his country’s assets, noting that Russia could “claim back” Alaska (archived here). 

However, the assertion that Putin called the sale of Alaska illegal is false. 

Russia property decree

On January 18, 2024, Putin signed a new decree which provides funds for a property management directorate under his command to finance the cost associated with “the process of searching the real estate property owned by the Russian Federation, the former Russian Empire, the former USSR”.

Russian news agency TASS reported that the decree also covered funds for the “due registration of (property) rights” and “legal protection of this property” (archived here).

The former Russian Empire extended into territories in modern-day Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania until its collapse in March 1917 (archived here).

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was later formed in 1922 as a successor to the Russian Empire, with Moscow as its capital.

At its height, the USSR was the largest country in the world and had 15 republics including present-day Ukraine, Estonia, Lithuania, and Georgia (archived here). It fell apart in 1991.

In February 2022, Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, claiming that former citizens of the Soviet Union living in parts of Ukraine “were not asked how they want to build their lives when the USSR was created or after World War II” (archived here).

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The January 2024 decree did not mention Alaska, but Russian military bloggers interpreted it as a subtle move by Putin to reclaim Alaska (archived here).

The US State Department scoffed at the idea.

“Well, I think I can – I speak for all of us in the US government to say that certainly he is not getting it back,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said on January 22, 2024 (archived here).

However, the Institute for the Study of War noted the decree could be a pretext for Russia to cause unrest in neighbouring countries (archived here). 

“The Kremlin may use the ‘protection’ of its claimed property in countries outside of its internationally recognised borders to forward soft power mechanisms in post-Soviet and neighbouring states ultimately aimed at internal destabilisation,” the Washington-based think-tank wrote in its regular assessment of Russia's Ukraine offensive on January 19, 2024.

When asked during a 2014 Q&A session if he had plans to annex the US state, Putin had joked that it was too "cold"  (archived here).

Alaskan gold

Alaska enjoyed little attention from the US for decades after its purchase. 

That changed in 1896 after a gold deposit was found in Yukon. This contradicts the suggestion in the post that Putin’s purported push to retake Alaska was triggered by the discovery of a gold deposit.

According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), Alaska is a major producer of gold in America. It also listed silver among other mineral commodities produced in the state, but not diamonds (archived here).