Long ago in 1991, as the once-powerful Soviet Union fell apart and Westerners celebrated,Vladimir PutinHis favorite rock and roll band released "Don't Fool Around, America," a patriotic song about an older forgotten cause - the sale of Alaska by Russia to the United States in 1867.
This lively track, featuring an accordion, overlooked the confusing end of the Soviet regime and instead directed listeners eastward, across the Bering Strait, to the 49th U.S. state, asserting:
Return our beloved Alaska to us/Return our cherished homeland.
Now the song, by provocative rockers Lyuba (the Loud Ones), has gained new meaning as PresidentDonald Trumpprepares to welcome Vladimir Putin to anAlaskan military base– and conspiracy theories emerge, alleging that Uncle Sam deceived Mother Russia out of the 665,000-square-mile Arctic treasure.
Russian America
Combining elements of theory and hope, enduring Alaska-related conspiracies become more visible in Russia during periods of conflict, as nationalists reference supposed betrayals from the 19th century Russian Empire and the 20th century Soviet Union, according to Andrei Znamenski, a history professor at the University of Memphis.
This kind of discussion "is magnified" currently, during the Ukraine conflict and the August 15 Trump-Putin meeting, Znamensi said to USA TODAY.
"It appears that Russian America was not actually sold to the United States. The true events were entirely different," wrote a Russian news source recently, presenting an alternative—though historians claim inaccurate—version suggesting that Russia's control over Alaska was only leased to the U.S., with the lease having expired long ago.
An ‘act of spite’
The initial lasting Russian presence in Alaska began in 1784, and the state today maintains a few Russian Orthodox churches. Certain inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands still follow a blend of Orthodox Christianity and shamanism, according to Znamenski.
However, following Russia's loss to the British in the expensive 1854-56 Crimean War, Tsar Nicholas II chose to abandon the challenging-to-protect Alaska. Britain, which controlled Canada, was watching closely.the rich territory, so Nicholas sold it for $7 million to a less aggressive buyer: The United States.
"It was an act of vengeance" against England, Znamenski stated.
Nicholas remains unforgiven among nationalist writers, some of whom view him as a victim of Masonic and Jewish conspiracies. An author named Ivan Mironov penned his 2007 book, "A Fateful Deal: How Alaska was Sold," while incarcerated for planning the murder of a reformist former deputy prime minister.
Paradise lost
Alaska and Crimea are still connected in certain aspects today, both seen as historically Russian areas that were lost due to ineffective leadership—Yeltsin, the first president of independent Russia, is criticized for acknowledging Crimea's status as part of Ukraine following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In 2016, two years following Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, a black granite monument was erected in Sailors' Square of the Black Sea city of Yevpatoria, featuring a message for future generations: "We reclaimed Crimea, it is your responsibility to reclaim Alaska."
Siberia and Alaska, the two sides are identical," Lyuba sang. "Women, horses, excitement throughout the journey.
A music video for the song opens with an animated machine gun cutting Alaska away from the North American landmass. (The lead singer of Lyuba was later elected to the Russian parliament, or Duma, as a member of Putin's United Russia party.)
All or nothing
Many members of Russia's nationalist intellectual community view Alaska not as a treasure to be reclaimed but as a cautionary tale against yielding to Western influences. Alexander Dugin, a prominent figure in Russia's "Eurasianist" far-right movement and closely associated with Putin, frequently references the Alaska case.
Dugin, whose adult daughter died in a 2022 car bombing attributed to Ukraine's intelligence agency — a strike believed to have targeted him — was very serious about the significance of the Alaska summit in a recent piece.
"Putin has repeatedly acknowledged that the West never fulfills its promises, consistently lies and misrepresents things, and it is impossible to trust its leaders under any circumstances," he wrote on August 13 in the Russian-language magazine Stolista-S.
For Trump, it's a deal, but for us, it's fate," Dugin stated. "Ukraine will either belong to usor nothing at all.”
This piece was first published on USA TODAY:It was sold in 1867, yet some Russians desire to reclaim Alaska from the United States.