Ex-Russian Alaska ‘Too Cold’ to Annex, Putin Jokes

In a patriotic fervour, Russians are asking President Vladimir Putin to bring back the US state of Alaska, sold off to the United States in Tsarist times. Putin’s answer? It’s too cold.

During Putin’s annual marathon phone-in session Thursday, when Russians pose questions to the Russian leader, a pensioner asked him to possibly follow the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine with the taking of Alaska.

“Faina Ivanovna, dear, why do you need Alaska?” Putin asked the pensioner.

“We have a northern country — 70 percent of our territory are in the north and the far north,” he noted.

“Alaska is cold too,” he said. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

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