Four Russian military aircraft were detected in the airspace above Alaska on Tuesday, February 6, according to reports from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
Knewz.com has learned that this development came two weeks after the United States refuted Vladimir Putin’s veiled claims on the U.S. state.
File photo of Russian aircraft. Four Russian military aircraft were recently detected in Alaska airspace. By: MEGA
More precisely, the Russian military planes were detected in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), but they did not enter the U.S. or Canadian sovereign airspace.
Reuters reports that Russia confirmed Wednesday that two of its Tu-95 bombers flew over waters near Alaska for about nine hours and were escorted by two SU-30SM fighter jets. The planes flew over the Bering and Chukchi seas, the Russian defense ministry said.
The statement from NORAD regarding the “transgression” read, according to Newsweek, “This Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat.”
“The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace,” NORAD said in a statement.
Alaska was part of Russia nearly a century and a half ago.
“Alaska was once part of Russia. In 1867 it was sold to the U.S. for $7.2 million after U.S. President Andrew Johnson signed the Alaska Treaty. It was formally transferred by Russia to the U.S. on October 18, 1867, and it gained the status of a state on January 3, 1959,” Newsweek explained.
Putin has reportedly expressed an interest in Alaska. By: MEGA
On January 18, Putin signed an executive order which some say effectively declares Alaska belongs to Russia.
While the order does not mention the name of the state directly, it states, according to an English translation posted on X: the “Enterprise for Property Management Abroad” has the right to “search for real estate of the Russian Federation, the former Russian Empire, the former USSR [Soviet Union] and legal protection of this property.”
Although many have dubbed the executive order as a justification to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, others have stated that the phrase “former Russian Empire” implies Putin’s interest in reclaiming Alaska.
Putin signed an executive order which some say effectively declares Alaska belongs to Russia. By: MEGA
Ukrainian blogger Igor Sushko, who heads the Winds of Change Research Group, wrote that through the executive order, Putin intends to insinuate that the “sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867 was illegitimate.” He further accused Putin of “trolling the West,” while “our leaders shake in their boots in response.”
It is worth noting that this is not the first time Russia has expressed interest in “reclaiming” Alaska, as State Duma chair Vyacheslav Volodin brought up the matter in the summer of 2022 when the U.S. and other countries froze Russian assets to put economic pressure on Putin to withdraw from Ukraine.
“Before Americans seize our property abroad, they should remember: we also have something to reclaim,” Volodin had said at the time.
The topic came up again in December 2023. The Celeb Tattler website noted Russian lawmaker Sergei Mironov suggested Putin should take advantage of a U.S. decline in worldwide influence. Months earlier, Kremlin adviser Oleg Matveychev reportedly called for the return of Alaska.
Washington has refuted the claims made by the Russian president. By: MEGA
Several posters have been put up in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, declaring: “Alaska is ours!”
However, the U.S. State Department has ignored Putin’s claims on the state, stressing that there is no way Russia is getting Alaska back.
“I speak for all of us in the U.S. government to say that certainly, he is not getting it back,” State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said to laughter during a press briefing, according to the Newsweek report from January 23.
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