There is a conspiracy theory that the sale of the peninsula in 1867 was not actually a sale, but a lease. We checked if this is true.

The theory became especially popular after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was stated, that “the USSR was unable to demand from the United States the fulfillment of any terms of the treaty, since the Soviet government repeatedly officially stated that it did not recognize international treaties concluded by the government of Tsarist Russia, and, therefore, could not demand their compliance with other states.” Proponents of the theory also highlight the role of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, who in 1966, at the time the lease expired, decided not to get involved in the conflict with the United States.

One of the pillars of conspiracy theorists is that the Russian text of the agreement does not exist (it was signed in English and French), and the word “sell” is missing in the English text. There is a verb sed, that is, “to give in,” from which it is concluded that the Russian emperor transferred the rights of physical use of the territories to the United States.

The statement about languages is correct, but let's look at the ratified convention in Russian:

So, “the All-Russian Emperor hereby undertakes to cede to the North American United States, immediately after the exchange of ratifications, all the territory with the supreme right to it, now owned by His Majesty on the American continent, as well as the islands adjacent to it.” And further: “With the territory ceded, according to the previous article, to the supreme power of the United States, is associated the right of ownership of all public lands and places, lands not occupied by anyone, all public buildings, fortifications, barracks and other buildings not constituting private property.”

The convention does not say anything about rent or any return periods. State lands were transferred to undivided ownership.

And here is a payment order in the amount of $7.2 million, which is stored in American archives:

As you can see, the payment took place.

This is far from the only Russian legend associated with Alaska. Part of the population is still confident that the peninsula was sold by Catherine II (thanks group "Lube"). Of course, this happened under her great-grandson Alexander II. Another theory speaksthat the gold never reached Russia: the barque Orkney, which transported it in 1868, was caught in a storm near St. Petersburg and sank. Moreover, it is alleged that in 1875 it turned out that the barque sank as a result of an explosion caused by US citizen William Thomson, and 100 years later, Soviet-Finnish divers discovered the ship - with traces of an explosion and without traces of gold. All these assumptions are unfounded, because the bark “Orkney” is listed in British insurance directories of 1870–1871, and the State Historical Archives of the Russian Federation contains a document from 1868, which says in black and white:

“For the Russian possessions in North America ceded to the North American States, 11,362,481 rubles were received from the said States. 94 [cop.]. Of the number 11,362,481 rubles. 94 kopecks spent abroad on the purchase of accessories for the railways: Kursk-Kyiv, Ryazansko-Kozlovskaya, Moscow-Ryazan, etc. 10,972,238 rubles. 4 k. The rest are 390,243 rubles. 90 kopecks were received in cash.”

Thus, the Alaska deal was a full-fledged, final sale, and the resulting money went to the construction of railroads of the Russian Empire.