Russian TV Fans Alaska Secession Flames

A Russian state TV host has suggested that Moscow should consider seizing Alaska from the United States.

Host Tigran Keosayan made the remarks in a state TV broadcast which was shared online by Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs. Keosayan is married to Kremlin propagandist Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT.

"Attention, Alaska! Russian propagandist Keosayan thinks you'd really like to leave the US and join Russia. He says Russia would be delighted," Gerashchenko said on X, formerly Twitter.

Alaska was once part of Russia. In 1867, it was sold to the U.S. for $7.2 million after then-U.S. President Andrew Johnson signed the Alaska Treaty. Alaska was formally transferred by Russia to the U.S. on October 18, 1867, and it gained statehood on January 3, 1959. Alaska and Russia are positioned about 53 miles apart at their closest point.

Keosayan's show referenced a survey conducted by YouGov last month, which found that 23 percent of Americans would support the state they live in seceding from the United States and becoming an independent country.

The poll of 35,000 U.S. adults found that support for independence in Alaska was at 36 percent.

"Secession from the United States is half the battle. The main thing is to join Russia correctly," said Keosayan. "What a surprise it would be if the secession of the U.S. came before the secession of Ukraine, wouldn't it?"

Responding to the poll findings that Alaska has the highest number of those in favor of secession, Keosayan said: "What a coincidence, huh?"

"And we have 100% of the population expressing a desire to annex Alaska to Russia. So why didn't you stupid m****** keep quiet when [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was in Chukotka? You would have signed the papers right on the hood of a snow-swamp buggy," he said.

In January, the U.S. State Department responded to a Kremlin decree following claims that Putin gave Russia grounds to reclaim Alaska.

The Kremlin signed a decree regarding historic Russian real estate holdings abroad, directing and funding the presidential administration and the foreign ministry in "searching for real estate in the Russian Federation, the former Russian Empire, the former USSR," then referring to the "proper registration of rights...and legal protection of this property," Newsweek previously reported.

In response, the U.S. State Department dismissed reports that Putin could seek to seize Alaska.

"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 on January 22.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment by email.

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