WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th October, 2022) The two US senators for Alaska, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, are engaged with other officials on the case of two Russian nationals who were detained by Federal agents after sailing to a remote island in the state seeking asylum, the lawmakers said on Thursday.
"Given current heightened tensions with Russia, I called the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and spoke to him as well as another senior DHS official when I was first contacted about this situation on Tuesday morning by a senior community leader from the Bering Strait region," Sullivan said in a joint statement.
The senators are actively engaged with federal officials to determine who the individuals are, Murkowski also said in the statement.
The two Russian nationals were detained after arriving at the village of Gambell on St. Lawrence Island, according to earlier US media reports. The US Coast Guard sent a plane with federal border patrol agents to detain the duo on the island, which is located 40 miles from the Russian mainland - closer than it is to the Alaskan mainland.
Most of the land on St. Lawrence Island is owned by Yupik peoples, who reside across Alaska and the Russian Far East. Yupiks from Russia have previously sailed to St. Lawrence island to engage culturally with their fellow Yupiks living there.
However, a federal response to the situation was "lacking," Murkowski said in the joint statement. Only local officials and state law enforcement were able to immediately respond to the asylum seekers, while the Coast Guard was dispatched from over 750 miles away to get on scene, Murkowski said.
This situation underscores the need for a stronger security posture in the Arctic, Murkowski added.
Sullivan has encouraged federal officials to have plans prepared with the Coast Guard in the event that more Russians flee to Bering Strait communities in Alaska, the statement said, suggesting the asylum seekers may have been fleeing potential mobilization by the Russian military.
Alaska is vital to securing US national security given its proximity to Russia, compelling the state's senators to press for more Arctic infrastructure and defense assets in Congress, the statement also said.
