Alaska is Russian

Trump critics are falsely claiming that Putin signed a decree in January 2024 declaring Russia’s 1867 sale of Alaska to the United States illegal and mocking Trump for hosting a leader who supposedly rejects America’s ownership of the host state. An Aug. 8, 2025, post from the anonymous account @Defence_Index, which purports to cover breaking news, stated, ”In 2024, Putin signed a decree calling the 1867 sale of Alaska to the U.S. ‘illegal’ — claiming it still belongs to Russia. Yet Trump wants to welcome him to Alaska. Why host a man who says your land isn’t yours?” X user Michelle Rainer shared the false claim and stated, “Putin is preparing the future annexation of Alaska and Trump fell for it.” The false claim also spread on Bluesky, Reddit, and TikTok.

Actually: Putin did not sign a decree declaring that the sale of Alaska to the U.S. was illegal. He did sign a decree on Jan. 18, 2024, but it related to Russian-owned real estate outside of Russia and made no mention of Alaska.

In a Jan. 19, 2024, report, the U.S.-based think-tank Institute for the Study of War said that the decree provides Russia’s Foreign Property Management Enterprise and Ministry of Foreign Affairs with “power and funds to search for, register, and legally protect ‘property’,” but added that “the exact parameters of what constitutes current or historical Russian property are unclear.”