In an attempt to scare the United States from holding the Kremlin accountable for war crimes in Ukraine, Russian officials threatened Wednesday that Moscow may put Alaska on their list of future targets. It seems like an idle threat but previous Russian threats to use nuclear weapons against the west shouldn’t be taken lightly. 

The Russians are testing the Biden Administration in ways it could have never imagined.

Threatening to target Alaska is an incredibly bold ultimatum. But it makes sense if the Kremlin is seeing how far they can push Biden. I believe the threats will continue to increase until the Russian government is put in its place either through tougher sanctions and stronger deterrence. I don’t believe that will happen under Biden.

But first, here’s some background on Alaska for those who don’t remember: the U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million. It was a fantastic deal for the United States and one the Russians regret I’m sure. It was, however, a legitimate deal. We obtained Alaska under a binding contract.

I’m certain many of you, like me, want to believe these are just empty threats from Russian officials.  But we can’t think that way. Remember when U.S. officials underestimated al-Qaeda? That’s just one recent example. Look at what China is doing as far as expansion over the past several years. We are living in dangerous times and President Biden’s administration is making it far worse.

I don’t believe we should take anything for granted. I also don’t believe this is about taking Alaska, it is about making the Biden Administration – the United States – look weak before the rest of the world.

According to a MSN, Russia’s lower house speaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, stated that the United States better watch out if it plans to seize or freeze Russian assets abroad. Volodin added, according to a translation in a news report that ‘instead ought to remember that Alaska previously belonged to Russia.”

“Let America always remember, there is a part of [Russian] territory: Alaska,” he said, according to Hromadske, as translated by The Daily Beast. “So when they start trying to dispose of our resources abroad, before they do it, let them think: we also have something to return.”

According to RBC, State Duma Vice Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy proposed holding a referendum in Alaska. 

I’m certain Russian leaders, along with President Vladimir Putin understand that their idle threats against the U.S. could lead to a dangerous global escalation. So what’s the end game? Why does he keep on pushing both against United States policy, as well as Ukraine?

How will the U.S. respond now to these threats? Do we sit back and do what the Russians want? Do we stand up to Putin? Do we wait and see if they are blustering?

Putin, on the other hand, has nothing to lose. Well, except his own so-called honor and he will do anything to save face. That puts us in a very dangerous and precarious position.

On Wednesday, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, denounced the U.S. Medvedev stated that the United States was working to “spread chaos and destruction across the world for the sake of ‘true democracy.’”

Medvedev escalated an already dangerous situation adding the U.S. will face the “wrath of God” if it pushes for an international tribunal to investigate Russia’s actions in its war in Ukraine, as reported in Politico.  

These shouldn’t be just taken as idle threats. We’ve already been threatened by Moscow over Ukraine multiple times. The question is why do they feel so emboldened? The Russians, like other enemy states, are emboldened by the Biden administration’s visible weakness and frankly, idiocy.

Putin knows this and Medvedev understands this. It is the reason these threats are so grandiose, so big in scale they almost seem ridiculous. However, they are not. They are testing our strength, our fortitude and showing the world that the administration now in power in the United States is the weakest in modern history.

Medvedev actions are emboldening other enemy actors like China and Iran. The Russian’s are also using our own internal national divisions to create deeper rifts in our nation. They are amplifying those divisions with their own propaganda. It is the same propaganda that is used by the radical left and the Biden Administration to degrade the the United States. It is done by altering and twisting our own history.