once it was a part of russian territory there are still reminders to this day children wearing russian national costumes people having russian names and many orthodox churches are standing here but more than one hundred forty years ago it became the u.s. territory though some americans still don't know about. just over the last i have no idea about that stuff like nothing i don't know anything about that alaska is cold. it was cold a box of ice a polar bear garden and one russia but in the language of the indigenous peoples the word alaska means the great land. sven haakanson is steering his boat out of the narrow bay of kodiak island his

ancestors have lived here since time immemorial. over the thousands of years they to solve this seascape each time they put out to sea to hunt. but they use canoes with a couple of paddles instead of comfortable motor boats with powerful engines in the past yes it was very very difficult to hunt as an individual you need to group in order to. actually capture for example you look at the sea lions over here in order for you to hunt one of those in the several people. on a summer day and seven hundred forty one scores of natives of the land set out on a hunting expedition in canaries they spotted odd looking ships on the horizon. those big sail boats belonged to an expedition led by a russian explorers bearing and. that was how kodiak island made its appearance on russian maps the first colonists were. forty years

later seventeen eighty four the city was the capital. for fifty. streets to serve as a reminder of. the names of russian travelers and merchants. there. who are all founded to. tell us where we. russian permanent settlement in alaska and then there's. son in law. named after nikolai. who are was representing the government of russia and also the american company. the russian american company was founded in seventy. primarily with the hunting.

which. was used as a warehouse from here to russia and to china this pill has the thickest for any animal the most furs per square inch this is the animal itself the sea otter this animal was what caused the fur gold rush to alaska. for. two thousand and nine he organized an expedition to retrace the steps of his fellow countrymen. the first ever european. unexplored. people.

welcome to warmly just as their ancestors welcome these agustin two hundred fifty years ago their homes may have changed a lot but their attitude to russians remains the same. shit over clearly will welcome the east into places that it once served as bases as a ghost can expose. russians many of the local people said they had russian and. when the russians came to alaska the lives of the indigenous people changed. many of them began to work for the russian american company jobs involved hunting for sea otters fishing and taking part in the building of new settlements russian priests and monks visited alaska and baptized the locals into the orthodox faith russian men married local girls. russian

men had local women and their children were called creole he will let me see some creoles who are well educated. in the russian capital to ship as well as in the colonial administration you know ask. sven how concerned lives a life entirely different from his ancestors to him putting out to sea is more like fun than work. sven is proud of his traditional bathhouse he sees it as a symbol of successive generations and imbedded russian traditions. when the russians came. the thing that is similar are the rocks and the heat and steaming the washing inside the vanya and that's something that we've been doing for centuries and it's a tradition where they now have a wooden house which is a russian banja which just adapted to it i mean i grew up taking minus four bass. svend cs telling the history of. people as a mission he kiri it's

a museum which is one of the principal tourist attractions of kodiak island when few tourists visited during low season local people come here to when the russians actually took over our claimed alaska for russia speed you don't see one of sen's friends together with his family is listening to his story although his name is of russian origin he doesn't know a single word of the language spoken on the other side of the bering strait nor does he know much about where his last name comes from. what my mom told me. they were taken people are there. and they couldn't say are. russian. speaking don't see me and often doesn't need to speak russian services in the

orthodox church in kodiak city are held in english. father in a county was born in new england a place that is far away from here he has no russian roots nevertheless he decided to serve as an orthodox priest in alaska but it was a long story. it's a story of growing up in a christian church protestant church but always wanting the seeking out for face a for experience of. trying to do that in orthodoxy as a young man and eventually answering the call into the priesthoods. the church were father in a county sears stands with the first church in the new world used to be alaska is still predominantly orthodox us state. russians and the priest said then came

didn't force us to not speak our language they didn't force us to not follow our traditional ways of living we did you know stop practicing our all the religious practices but pretty much everything else stayed the same hunting language but then in doing the american period. they won at the. american archaeologist david mcmahon is exploring the remains of russian legacy on alaska. these are. they would have been used by employees of the russian american company. for this is one of the most important finds of his career some of the objects were found at the site of the first russian others on the ocean floor so. this is. frames

this together with. david raised a many remains of the russian ship kodiak from the depths of the ocean. to the russian american company near the shores of kodiak island in eight hundred sixty. eight was very lucrative because the gold miners in california needed for their drinks so even if. they would still make a good profit the ship was leaving and it hit a rock everyone got off the ship but because of the ice on board the ship stayed afloat for several days before finally sank. the archaeologist twenty five meters deep to explore the remains of the ship the kodiak was one of a dozen ships keeping the lines of communication with open similar ships regularly sailed the length of the north pacific many saw the ship wreck as a symbol the russian american company was in dire straits.

at the beginning of the eight hundred sixty s. the company reached the edge of bankruptcy that caused a debate on whether alaska could be sold the vast territory was inhabited by eight hundred. number one russia needed to defend it. that those factors led to a serious discussion about a potential sale they were held in an atmosphere of secrecy laws only a handful of fischel knew about them the league. america was not particularly keen on buying the faraway territory a russian envoy to washington eduardo steckel was told to do his best to convince the u.s. government that it would gain norma's benefits by acquiring alaska. steckel had the support of u.s. state secretary william seward who was in favor of a u.s. territorial expansion. finally in eight hundred sixty seven after lengthy

negotiations alaska was sold to the united states for the price of seven point two million dollars. on october the eighteenth eight hundred sixty seven the russian flag was lowered in the former alaskan capitol of sitka. in its stead america's colors were raised. today happy alaska day is one of the major holidays of the forty ninth state. during the blight showed the residents of citgo to reenact the procedure of handing over the flag from russians to americans. in eight hundred sixty seven the ceremony for placing the russian colony under u.s. control was much more modest. the american government was weary of accusations that they had wasted a lot of money headlines and splashed across the newspapers scoffed at the purchase

describing it as nothing more than a box of vice. rumor even had is that of the seven point two million dollars paid some two hundred thousand was given to senators in the form of kickbacks. but opinion but it brings up the deliberate steps which they hope of upswelling some sentences. the russian american company lost its. choice. what became of the money. was shrouded in mystery. the official version. received. in the pacific.

like many alaskans he refers to. the lower forty eight. of the forty nine most people in the lower forty eight don't know that alaska is part of america. but many believe that it's own country and they wonder what kind

of money they're going to have to use when they're here and. i've actually had people. you sound just like in america. gary has lived in the small settlement. since birth. here is. a few english words gary however doesn't speak russian my grandfather passed away a couple of decades ago and my grandmother. passed away soon after that just some distance from here my father and most of my relatives and one day i will be too. right after the peninsula was sold to the americans the village was built on the sea shore all of the employees of the russian american company who refused to move to russia had been banished here by the u.s. government one of the older buildings is right down below us doesn't have a window in it and built in the old log dovetail design with the dovetail corners

there are several other buildings that are throughout here including sheds that were used for fishing the older ones that were built as as old as the late eighteenth hundreds all the residents of new chick are related to each other one way or another they are the houses irene she died in one thousand nine hundred five one of the most successful people born in india is laurent lehman who is a distant relative of gary. four years ago he was the lieutenant governor of alaska because he's only passing through today and has decided to stay with his uncle and aunt their ancestors were russians and they still use russian words in their everyday lexicon. which is married were you ever to. a few hours later he will visit his father at a nursing home in the town of sold. your interview to i told him i tell my father

that everything. oh i love you do that if it. doesn't see that russian heritage simply as a distant episode in the history of his native state he remembers well that when he was a child far more people spoke russian than english. with my brother's russian heritage and we often joked about it when we get within about ten miles. we're doing what we call speaking then we start talking like my father telling some of the stories it is still a very. part of my heritage. more in a rise that sold around lunchtime he visits his father at the local nursing home he says a few phrases in russian. i'm with you know it's nicko i. was there come to. nick

lehman can't remember names and faces clearly last year he had a stroke. yes he. does believe. that's my son nick lehman's condition sometimes makes him imagine he's not it's old news nursing home but in the old settlement of. where everyone has a boat where christmas is celebrated in early january rather than in december and where people in nearly every home speak russian. to know there's. a group of. nick lehman is one of the few people here who still remember the russian air of the land its former legacy is gradually being forgotten much in the same way as old people's memories fade away i'd like to teach my children about their heritage and we've shared it. especially with our oldest child our son and i

think the best way we can do it is to talk about it sure some of the stories maybe even some of the language i want them to understand are very rich cultural heritage is it makes me think. it. is one of the most popular teachers and don't know high school. he used to teach english to russian children in the russian town of. course today he teaches russian in alaska none of the children in his class has a slavic name all of them are americans who have decided to learn the language that was once dominant in this part of the world. your wallet during briana while all. this the you know this thing that. i'm not. here. the gory

sees himself as a representative of the new wave of russian settlers of alaska who makes himself at home the russian legacy is everywhere. because today there are at least about seven hundred. names. conspicuously russian for example. then the presence of the churches here so you know the words. let's put it like this here in . the past. after. trying to stick to a lifestyle reminiscent of siberia. people came here in one thousand

six to eight years this is the first house they have built he added we take why they feel you're not so young you know how do you choose in an age when for some reason trying to guess why there's no escape for you dressed to kill. is famous. and she is known for causing. particularly fond of her because she is the only always ready to talk to journalists. and they always prefer. the founders of. the soviet union to america to escape persecution. in alaska. trying to distance themselves from civilization much like they would. if initially it was a private. that the signs had been removed and now people can visit us

they can talk to and meet. today it is even something of a tourist attraction. run by. the most lucrative business in the. for three decades it never occurred to the old believers that someday americans might be among their neighbors they tried to escape visiting other towns but now the american house stay near the russian once evacuated no nephew has five children he moved. seven years ago after buying one third of the local land his american dream is slowly becoming a reality the land was. pretty good price the russians. russians the people that are here the orthodox. have a nice set of values. friendly relations with matt but as the

years ago by she becomes ever more apprehensive of the prospect of. losing its status as a russian enclave and turning into just another quiet settlement in alaska. children in the still where russian national dress but english is now their mother tongue. for growing up in a russian village but we go to english school learn english not as much russian i think or the time. faith i. played which. the new wave of settlers who moved to alaska during the last decade came from siberia twentieth century russian destinations changed in comparison with the eighteenth century the majority preferred. city anchorage rather than kodiak island

. out of the cities three hundred thousand strong population five thousand are migrants from russia. situated in an. this. is true. he was born. children of the russians who came here in one thousand eight hundred. nine hundred ninety s. are about twenty years old just some of this russian generation has grown up in alaska they speak very good english and understand spoken russian it is indeed a new generation of music. there's a place where everybody's going. to be. different places.

but the new russia have taken the him like. russians don't see themselves as masters. they see themselves. as among them. once again. will have to go through a strenuous course of training before the expedition they intend to use the same gear that the early russian explorers. discover a. then we want to know the actual truth and that's why we didn't have

a choice of transport. the community of indigenous people. takes a dim view of europeans to make more difficult. to see. as motorboats. thinks giving up the perks of civilization is a foolish thing to do. yet despite embracing the modern era inwardly he still remains committed to the simple principles preached by his ancestors. we were here for thousands of years. but you know we didn't have this system of paper saying that we can claim this land because in our philosophy in our worldview. you can own land the land owns you you know how can you say you own that when you're only here for a little bit and then you got it's a whole different philosophy of owning it versus living with it.

the top stories of the week washington give the green light throwing the ball to russia. given its initial approval to a treaty nuclear arsenal slashed by. threats and accusations between north and south korea. close to the border provokes the threats of a sacred. plane crash that killed the polish president monkey five others in poland refuses to

accept the findings. russia's president to. find out what he had to say in our interview program. on a story happening right now freezing rain causes major delays at one of moscow's main airports as the russian capital is covered by. the domestic flights up and running. mean that each number of people are still being. welcomed. ten pm here in moscow. with our top stories in our review of the week after months of delay a landmark nuclear cut steel between russia and the u.s. is on.