Russian mischief in Alaska is getting worse
It's happening while we're all busy with Greenland
When I was a little girl, the cheesy Russian folk-rock band Lyube sang a song about how Russia needs to have Alaska back. The song was called, “Don’t play the fool, America!”, you can read a rough translation of the lyrics here.
The idea that Russia got an unfair price for Alaska is not new in Russia, where the majority of citizens consistently see themselves as poor victims of the diabolical West.
While Russia is the biggest country in the world, we’ve all seen how it behaves like an insatiable monster. Lands, lands, and more lands, no matter the price, is the monster’s ambition.
(By the way, I got stuck in a hotel elevator with members of Lyube on a trip to pre-occupation Crimea one time - they’re as obnoxious as you imagine)
Today, Russian military propagandists occasionally post AI-generated memes about how Russia will gloriously take Alaska back, and NORAD will occasionally tell us about Russian mischief near the Alaskan coast.
None of this is threatening, it’s more pathetic and annoying.
However, since late last year, I have been speaking to more and more people who claim that this Russian mischief is getting worse in remote parts of the state. These statements include harassment and co-opting of native populations such as:
Poisoned sled dogs
Ruined generators
And, most disturbingly, unregistered Russian flights landing in Alaska while certain locals are “encouraged” (read: paid) to look the other way
Whenever I speak to Pentagon sources about my findings, I hear, “no one’s going to war over some sled dogs, Natalia” and “we have bigger problems elsewhere, Natalia, calm down,” which is all fine and good. (We can leave aside my annoyance at the assumption that I want some kind of showdown over the poor sled dogs)
However, I have long believed that lack of accountability is a kind of disease - it progresses in stages. This particular issue has begun to seriously irk me, because it’s not regular Russian troops that are doing the mischief for the most part.
