Vladimir Putin is going on a property hunt, ordering officials to find Russian assets that once belonged to its former empire or were owned by the Soviet Union.

An order from the Russian president published late Thursday allocated funding for a state unit to conduct searches for property abroad and ensure Russia’s ownership rights are registered. The document didn’t indicate the size of the budget for the operation or what kinds of property are being sought.

While it’s unclear what prompted the order, Putin’s interest in former imperial possessions is unlikely to ease concerns about his ambitions among neighboring states after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended European security.

At its peak, the Russian Empire extended into territories of modern Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Finland. It dissolved under the pressure of World War I and the 1917 Bolshevik revolution led by Vladimir Lenin that marked the birth of the Communist state.

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  • @[email protected]
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    378 months ago

    It makes sense as the Russian military does a terrible job keeping track of their assets. They left an entire missile cruiser at the bottom of the Black Sea.

    • FuglyDuck
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      108 months ago

      that was a submarine missile cruiser.

      It can stay under indefinitely!

        • BombOmOm
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          58 months ago

          He is referring to Ukraine sinking the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship, the missile cruiser Moskva.

        • FuglyDuck
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          58 months ago

          Nope. Every ship the Ukrainians sink is now a submarine.

          • Flying SquidM
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            48 months ago

            Just not an especially useful submarine.

            • FuglyDuck
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              38 months ago

              Nah, it’s very useful.

              Propaganda. They have the largest submarine fleet in the world!