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

    • Albbi
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      10 months ago

      Looking for change in the couch cushions old countries they used to own.

      • doctorcrimson@lemmy.today
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        10 months ago

        It’s pure fantasy fiction, but honestly how wild would it be if some mind-blowing Cold War Tech that was forgotten or abandoned got unearthed? Like a rocket with a hull so thick and boosters so big it could carry 500 tons into LEO, or maybe a big underground semi-functional fusion reactor attempt, or maybe even an analog supercomputer.

        Probably not, though. More realistically, he just wants to track down a bunch of old USSR weapons and vehicles before the dissenters do.

  • Capt. Wolf@lemmy.world
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    10 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.”

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      10 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.

  • intelshill
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    10 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.

  • Jaysyn@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

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

  • deegeese@sopuli.xyz
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    10 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.

  • Nobody@lemmy.world
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    10 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.

  • PugJesus@kbin.social
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    10 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.”

  • theodewere@kbin.social
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    10 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

  • BeautifulMind ♾️@lemmy.world
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    10 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