Putin Ally Wants to Make NATO Member Part of Russia

An ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin recently floated the idea of making a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) part of Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

During a recent airing of Russia 1, a state-run TV show in Moscow, host Vladimir Solovyov spoke about Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, and said "there's a reason" why the country should be apart of Moscow. Solovyov's translated comments were posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Monday morning by Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs.

Portugal was one of the founding members of NATO as many Western countries have continued to warn Moscow against engaging with the military bloc's allies amid its conflict with Ukraine when Putin invaded the Eastern European country in February 2022.

"You don't need it but I like it very much," Solovyov said when he was questioned by his co-hosts and guests about why Russia would want Portugal. "You have to start somewhere, I'd even choose Hawaii. I'm not a military man, but, I reason the way I was taught by outstanding Soviet military commanders, you have to go for natural obstacles."

Solovyov added that "the Portuguese would live just fine as part of the Russian empire."

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry via email for comment, and to Portugal's Minister of Foreign Affairs via its website for comment.

Amid Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine, some other Moscow officials and allies of Putin have made similar comments about NATO members.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that former Russian president and deputy chairman of Moscow's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev made comments in an article about Poland when he said, "We will treat it precisely as a historical enemy."

He added: "History has more than once delivered a merciless verdict to the presumptuous Poles: no matter how ambitious the revanchist plans may be, their collapse could lead to the death of Polish statehood in its entirety."

In February, Yevgeny Satanovsky, the president of Russia's Institute of the Middle East, appeared on the Russia-1 state-run news channel and said that Moscow should take back Alaska from the United States, saying, "Alaska is ours again."

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy previously responded to remarks about Russia retaking Alaska and said, "To the Russian politicians who believe they can take back Alaska: Good luck."

In 1867, the U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million, according to the Library of Congress.