A member of Russia’s parliament called for reparations from the United States on Sunday — including the return of historic settlements in Alaska and California — over the west’s vast economic sanctions.
The Kremlin has been flooding the airwaves of its state-run channels with pro-war propaganda that paints a vastly different portrait to reality and shields the Russian people from the horrors of Vladimir Putin‘s bloody invasion of Ukraine, the Daily Beast first reported.
Alaska and Fort Ross in California were part of the Russian empire in the 18th and 19th centuries before they were sold to the United States.
Moscow’s TV pundits and show hosts have also begun endorsing the idea of publicly hanging Ukrainians who are standing against Russia — something the Kremlin has reportedly already mulled, according to Bloomberg.
Putin’s ‘spin doctor,’ Duma member Oleg Matveychev, appeared on Russian state news on Sunday, outlining a series of demands for both Washington and Kyiv ‘after Ukraine’s demilitarization is completed.’
It comes as Russian and Ukrainian officials meet for another round of peace talks Tuesday.
Meanwhile in the latest escalation of tension between the White House and the Kremlin, Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced new sanctions on Tuesday against 11 Americans including President Joe Biden himself, Hunter Biden, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
‘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 said on Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov.
Kremlin ‘spin doctor’ Oleg Matveychev shared a list of demands on Russian state TV for ‘after Ukraine’s demilitarization is completed.’ Matveychev began his list with ‘the dissolution of NATO,’ adding that ‘the presence of NATO in some countries is getting in our way.’ Next was ‘extradition of all war criminals,’ including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and former President Petro Poroshenko
A host on Russian state television called for military tribunals and subsequent hanging for Ukrainians opposed to Moscow’s invasion. He said: ‘In the area where the special military operation for de-Nazification is taking place, I would restore the death penalty by hanging through a military tribunal, for terrorists and people who threaten peaceful civilians, and for those who abuse our captives. In my opinion, it is fundamentally important’
Russia ran several settlements in North America during the 19th century, among two of the most prominent being California’s Fort Ross and various colonies in Alaska
Fort Ross, a former Russian establishment on the west coast of North America in what is now Sonoma County, California. The former community and trading outpost for the Russian-American Company is now a California State Historic Park after it was sold by the Russian-American company into private hands in 1841
He continued, ‘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.’
Solovyov asked if the lawmaker specifically meant Alaska and the former Russian settlement of Fort Ross, California.
‘That was my next point. As well as the Antarctic,’ Matveychev said. ‘We discovered it, so it belongs to us.’
The first Russian colony on Alaska was founded in 1784, named Three Saints Bay. There began the Russian-American Company, a trading monopoly chartered by Czar Paul I in 1799 which drove the Empire’s expansion in North America.
Alaska was sold to the US in 1867 during Andrew Johnson’s presidency for $7.2 million — which would be approximately $144.4 million in 2021.
The Russian-American company built Fort Ross, less than three hours outside of modern-day San Francisco, in 1812. The settlement was sold into private hands in 1841.
Also on Tuesday, the US sanctioned 11 more Kremlin officials as well as Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and his wife.
In addition to Biden, Russia’s sanctions list includes US officials Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Mark Milley and Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo.
The president’s son Hunter Biden and former Secretary of State Antony Blinken are also included.
On Sunday Matveychev appeared to dismiss the idea of using nuclear weapons to achieve victory, declaring: ‘What for? We can take them down without it.’
Host Solovyov however, whose two Italian villas were recently seized amid the flurry of sanctions, called for executions or even nuclear strikes for ‘those who took our money.’
‘I still think that those who took our money should be told, you have 24 hours to unfreeze our funds, or else we’ll send you what you know we’ve got.
Your choice. Tactical or strategic, take a pick. You took our money, you’re the thieves, our talk is short with you: a bullet to the head,’ he said.
Earlier on Sunday Matveychev appeared to set the stage for persecuting Ukrainians who are resisting Russia’s invasion.
After a clip of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, Matveychev blasted the US: ‘There isn’t a single country in the world that is as easily manipulated as America.’
‘Here’s what will be on the table after our victory… we’re going to raise the stakes,’ he promised.
Matveychev began his list with ‘the dissolution of NATO,’ adding that ‘the presence of NATO in some countries is getting in our way.’
Next was ‘extradition of all war criminals,’ including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, former President Petro Poroshenko, and former deputy minister at the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs Anton Herashchenko.
He also called for the extradition of Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of Russia’s state-run doping program who revealed the operation in a bombshell 2016 New York Times interview. Rodchenkov is reportedly living under witness protection in the US.
Another Kremlin-controlled Sunday news show, Vesti Nedeli or ‘News of the Week,’ played a segment called ‘Denazification of Ukraine—the new opportunities for growth’ that featured images of the 1946 public executions of German Nazis in Kyiv’s Independence Square.
A Russian television host called for military tribunals followed by public hangings for pro-Ukraine fighters in its cities in a television clip posted to Twitter Sunday by a Daily Beast reporter.
On Thursday, a Moscow political science expert said of executing Ukrainian citizens by hanging, ‘morality shouldn’t get in the way.’
‘Never let morality prevent you from undertaking correct actions. I understand the importance of a humanitarian component,’ she said.
First published in Daily Mail (UK)