Putin claims Tsarism and the colonial territories of the USSR by decree

Vladimir Putin Signed a new decree on Moscow’s historical real estate abroadA measure interpreted by ultranationalist bloggers as a basis for future retaliation against Russia’s neighbors and even the United States Newsweek.

The decree, signed by the president on January 18, provides a subsidy to an overseas property management company for “financial assistance” of expenses associated with the search, registration and protection of property and real estate of the Russian Federation, the former Russian Empire and the former USSR”.

This would include territories such as Alaska, a US state; Area of ​​Eastern and Central Europe; Much of Central Asia and parts of ScandinaviaFinland, including a member of the European Union and NATO.

Media said the Russian Foreign Ministry and its Presidential Administration’s Overseas Property Management Company have been ordered by decree to carry out the task, which includes locating, registering and protecting the “property” at issue.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted “The exact parameters of what constitutes current or historical Russian property are unclear,” the document said.

But a prominent ultra-nationalist military blogger and supporter of the invasion of Ukraine The decree was framed as a step toward new territorial conflicts with Russia’s neighborsincluding the United States.

“We suggest starting with Alaska,” wrote the Telegram channel Two majors, which has more than 530,000 subscribers. The blogger wrote that the Kremlin should see “the Dnieper, Ukraine, Bessarabia, the Grand Duchy of Finland, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Central Asian states of Russian Turkestan, most of the Baltic provinces, and a significant part of Poland.” .

“Properties can be registered in the German Democratic Republic and other Warsaw Pact countries”Chanel wrote, referring to parts of Germany and other Central European nations under Soviet control during the Cold War.

“A combat expedition has already left for Africa,” he added, perhaps referring to Moscow’s growing Africa Corps.

Putin had previously rejected the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867. He called the deal “cheap” and said people “shouldn’t be nervous” about it. But some of his allies have suggested that Moscow could reopen the issue as a regional dispute.

Despite the above, the EFE Agency’s anti-disinformation service “EFE Verifica” confirmed that, with its decree, “Putin did not declare the sale of Alaska to the United States illegal (…) nor did he claim the right of “Russia”. On that territory, widely circulated messages on social networks claim, distorting the Kremlin document to locate and register potential historical properties of Moscow abroad.”

According to that service, “After the misleading content went viral, former Russian president and deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, satirically addressed the issue in a message on X on Monday in which he noted that “Russia will not recover. Alaska, which was sold to the United States in the 19th century. So, this is it. And we look forward to returning it any day. Now war is inevitable.”

Notwithstanding the above, ISW warned that the Kremlin’s claim to property beyond Russia’s borders “could serve to boost soft power mechanisms in post-Soviet and neighboring states.” with the aim of destabilizing them internally.