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.

Non-paywall link

  • @DaddleDew
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    1148 months ago

    I’m reading between the lines: “Russia is broke”

  • Capt. Wolf
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    548 months ago

    While it’s unclear what prompted the order, Putin’s interest in former imperial possessions…

    “We consider all former nations of the USSR to be former imperial possessions. We will be taking them back.”

    • @[email protected]
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      118 months ago

      A while back, some nut in the Duma said they should reclaim all former Russian territory, including Alaska. It would amuse me greatly to see them try.

      • Jaysyn
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        88 months ago

        We wouldn’t even need to deploy the Army, the locals would curbstomp them back to Siberia.

      • @AngryCommieKender
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        68 months ago

        That Duma official has forgotten that the local Alaskan population is armed for much more massive wildlife than a Russian conscript.

  • @[email protected]
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    508 months ago

    And yet the mods remove posts about the Polish and Estonia PMs warning about future Russian aggression… Interesting.

    Some might even say… Propaganda.

    • @jordanlundM
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      8 months ago

      I removed them because the same story was posted half a dozen times back to back to back. “Putin to attack Nato in 3-5/5-8 years.”

      The original story was kept, the others removed as duplicates.

      • @deafboy
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        88 months ago

        Thank you for your service!

  • Jaysyn
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    498 months ago

    Sorry Pootie, just because USSR owned it, doesn’t mean your shitty little gas station gets to claim it.

  • PugJesus
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    388 months ago

    Casus Belli: Artifact Claim War on NATO

    NATO: “Your low character is the subject of Greek plays. May your humors rot in your living body. We accept your surrender.”

  • @Nobody
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    378 months ago

    The Russian mob needs foreign property to borrow against. That’s how they operate. The money machine is having some problems with sanctions, and storage is constantly being depleted.

  • @[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!

        • 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!

        • BombOmOm
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          58 months ago

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

  • @carl_dungeon
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    318 months ago

    Pootin should order a hunt for his dick and balls.

    • Capt. Wolf
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      228 months ago

      “Mister Putin, sir… With all respect, after thorough searching and examination, we have found them to be firmly lodged within your own rectum… We also found what appears to be an antique mold of Adolf Hitler’s dick and balls behind them…”

  • @paddirn
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    308 months ago

    He’s probably going to start claiming Alaska as Russian property.

    • Jaysyn
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      168 months ago

      And we’ll back the Swede’s bid for St. Petersberg & Moscow.

      • @tyrant
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        88 months ago

        Based on this comment and your user name it seems like you have a lot of hills you’re ready to die on

        • FuglyDuck
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          58 months ago

          goes to show how resillient they are, heh.

    • @Rakonat
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      48 months ago

      Try and take it.

      • @[email protected]
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        68 months ago

        Don’t even bother sending the Army to defend it. The locals are armed to the teeth, and the terrain is mountainous–perfect for guerrilla warfare. Let the first wave of landings go uncontested, then have the Navy pick off all the reinforcements and supply boats.

  • prole
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    238 months ago

    This is the exact shit the Nazis did in the late 1930s.

  • theodewere
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    198 months ago

    he already has a bunch of Republicans convinced that giving back Alaska is not only a good idea but the right thing to do

      • theodewere
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        8 months ago

        those bitches can’t roll over fast enough for him… they figure if we give it back, maybe he won’t invade…

        • Uglyhead
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          108 months ago

          Got em in his back pocket since the RNC hack.

        • @Passerby6497
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          38 months ago

          Russia can’t even handle a war against a former client state, there’s no chance they’d invade a current superpower and former near peer nation like the US. If they tried, they’d get stomped into the dirt before either side started waving their nuclear dick at the other.

  • @Chocrates
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    198 months ago

    I don’t get it, what are they looking for? Do they want all the faberge eggs?

    • Flying SquidM
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      118 months ago

      “You are to return the nesting doll by order of Vladimir Putin!”

  • BeautifulMind ♾️
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    138 months ago

    He’s mad that there’s a move afoot to sell seized Russian assets and use the proceeds to fund Ukraine’s defense. The signal is: if you buy these things (yachts, real estate, whatever) Russia will see to it as a matter of official policy that you will fall carelessly out of a high window somewhere. The quiet part said out loud, tho, is that Russia now claims that anything it ever held, whether as the USSR or imperial Russia, or the current Russian Federation, is theirs forever no takebacks.

    Basically the read on this should be: Russia is having trouble laundering rubles into non-sanctioned currencies (those foreign assets are basically conduits to do that) and is now saying essentially that if they can’t keep our offshore loot they’ll just seize all of Eastern Europe and demand tribute from their vassal territories

    …of course, if Russia could actually do any of that it already would have