by ZACHARY ROGERS

March 16, 2022

-KATV

 

WASHINGTON (TND) —

A lawmaker in Russia has demanded the United States return Alaska to Russia as a reparation for American-led sanctions crippling his country’s economy following the invasion of Ukraine.

Parliament member Oleg Matveychev made those demands, along with saying he also wanted America to return Fort Ross in California, during an interview on Sunday, The Daily Beast reports. The publication says Matveychev is known as the “Kremlin’s spin-doctor.”

“We should be thinking about reparations from the damage that was caused by the sanctions and the war itself, because that too costs money and we should get it back,” Matveychev reportedly said on the show “Sunday Evening With Vladimir Soloviev.”

Matveychev also called for the “return of all Russian properties, those of the Russian empire, the Soviet Union and current Russia, which has been seized in the United States, and so on,” according to Fox News.

When asked by the host if he meant Alaska and Fort Ross when he referred to “Russian properties,” Matveychev confirmed, and added he also wanted the Antarctic Ocean back.

“We discovered it, so it belongs to us,” Fox News reports Matveychev saying during his interview.

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy responded to Matveychev’s demands by warning his state’s citizens were armed and would resist.

“Good luck with that! Not if we have something to say about it. We have hundreds of thousands of armed Alaskans and military members that will see it differently,” said Gov. Dunleavy in a tweet.

 

Alaska was purchased by the United States for $7.2 million in 1867. Fort Ross is located near San Francisco, and was purchased by a private buyer in 1841.

c. KATV