 Show Russians in Moscow's Red Square hold banners reading, "Love You Crimea!" "Together For All Time" and "Obama, Think About Alaska!" during a March 18 rally celebrating the annexation of Crimea. Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA/Landov hide caption toggle caption Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA/Landov
Russians in Moscow's Red Square hold banners reading, "Love You Crimea!" "Together For All Time" and "Obama, Think About Alaska!" during a March 18 rally celebrating the annexation of Crimea. Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA/Landov President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea is reigniting talk in Russia of taking back Alaska from the United States, which purchased the territory from a czar for $7.2 million nearly a century and a half ago. Most of the talk is tongue-in-cheek, but it comes at a time of heightened sensitivity in the West over whether Russia is planning further incursions or land grabs. A recent petition written in clunky English on the official White House website seeks Alaska's secession and return to Russia. So far, it has generated more than 37,000 signatures — or more than a third of the 100,000 needed to get the Obama administration to formally respond.
Penguins joined the protest on a number of Russian social media websites. Their signs read: "Crimea is ours," and "Alaska is Next" and "Only Putin." News RBK hide caption toggle caption News RBK According to the website, the petition was created by "S.V." of Anchorage on March 21. But The Moscow Times wrote Tuesday that the petition was actually uploaded by a pro-Kremlin outfit called Government Communication G2C, which was trying to show flaws in the White House petition system rather than get Alaska back. In Russia, a digitally altered photograph showing a group of protesting "Alaskan" penguins holding up Russian signs that read "Crimea is ours," "Alaska is Next" and "Only Putin" has proved very popular online. That penguins aren't native to Alaska was apparently lost on the photo's unidentified creator. But his or her intent appears to mock the pro-Kremlin United Russia Party, given that some of the penguins are holding party banners. On the March 23 episode of BBC One's Andrew Marr Talk Show, Vladimir Chizhov, who is Russia's ambassador to the EU, also brought up Russia's historical claim to Alaska to another guest that day, U.S. Sen. John McCain, the Republican from Arizona. "We do not have any — I would say — expansionist views," Chizhov said, when pressed about Russia's intentions in Ukraine and elsewhere. When the moderator persisted, Chizhov responded: "Should I tell Sen. McCain to watch over Alaska? ... It used to be Russian." He quickly added: "I'm joking, of course." But it's no joke to some Russian officials and groups. Putin's annexation of Crimea resonated with many Russians, who see him as having righted a historical wrong. Similar sentiments are fueling Russian legal claims to oil-rich Alaska.
A little bit of Russia in Alaska: A Russian Orthodox Church in the village of Tatitlik. David McNew/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption David McNew/Getty Images
A little bit of Russia in Alaska: A Russian Orthodox Church in the village of Tatitlik. David McNew/Getty Images Last year, an obscure group called The Little Bees filed a claim with the U.S. government demanding a cancellation of the Alaska sales agreement and millions of dollars in compensation. The plaintiffs claimed the payment the U.S. made to Russia was illegal and that legalization of gay marriage also violated the American-Russian contract. Several Russian news outlets in the past week reported on a claim for a small part of Alaska by the mayor of the Siberian town of Yakutsk, who says he has uncovered documents showing that Spruce Island actually belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church. The mayor has petitioned Putin, the Russian Parliament and the Foreign Ministry for the island's return to the church, rather than to Russia. As for the Alaska secession petition drive, the Obama administration had no comment on its merit: "We're not in a position to comment on the substance of a response before it has been issued," National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin M. Hayden told NPR. That won't happen unless the petition receives 100,000 signatures by April 20. Why did Russia not keep Alaska?Defeat in the Crimean War further reduced Russian interest in this region. Russia offered to sell Alaska to the United States in 1859, believing the United States would off-set the designs of Russia's greatest rival in the Pacific, Great Britain.
Does Russia own any part of Alaska?Alaska is the 49th state of the United States. However, it was a part of Russia till 1867. 154 years ago, Russia had to sell Alaska to America at a meagre price of $7.2 million.
How much did Russia sell Alaska for in todays money?The purchase added 586,412 sq mi (1,518,800 km2) of new territory to the United States for the cost of $7.2 million 1867 dollars. In modern terms, the cost was equivalent to $140 million in 2021 dollars or $0.39 per acre.
How long did Russia occupy Alaska?That sum, amounting to just $113 million in today's dollars, brought to an end Russia's 125-year odyssey in Alaska and its expansion across the treacherous Bering Sea, which at one point extended the Russian Empire as far south as Fort Ross, California, 90 miles from San Francisco Bay.
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Petition to give Alaska back to Russia
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