A senior member of the state Duma, Russia's Parliament, recently suggested American states that wanted to secede from the union would garner consideration for joining the Russian Federation.
State Duma Deputy Alexander Tolmachev had reportedly viewed the results of an informal online poll, which revealed some Americans wanted their states to break free from the U.S.
Tolmachev told Russian news site Podmoskovye Segodnya, if states vacated America's republic of 50 and wanted to join forces with Russia, Moscow would likely welcome such a landmark move.
Last week, Russia asserted that four regions of Ukraine — Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to the south — had become part of Russian territory, following referendums that were widely criticized by Ukrainian and Western officials as being a sham.
The votes reportedly supported the regions changing from Ukrainian to Russian territory.
Tolmachev, who believes the United States has entered the early stages of "decay," said its national structure being taxed was the result of failed American foreign policies.
"Such initiatives are a signal that the citizens of the United States are dissatisfied with their leadership and are ready to take extreme measures, up to secession, if the current policy of America continues," said Tolmachev.
Back in June, more than 80% of online New Hampshire voters— or at least those claiming residence in the state — said they favored seceding from the United States.
In March, however, New Hampshire's House chamber had already rejected a secession proposal to "peacefully declare" its independence from America (323 no votes/13 yes votes) and establish itself as a sovereign nation.
There's historical precedent in states demanding secession from the union.
In December 1860, South Carolina became the first state to approve secession.
This move prompted a number of other southern-based states — such as Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, and Texas — to join the first wave of secession advocates.
In the present day, the specter of secession involves the voluntary withdrawal of one or more states from a union that "constitutes the United States; but may loosely refer to leaving a state or territory to form a separate territory or new state, or to the severing of an area from a city or county within a state."
However, Cynthia Nicoletti, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, recently told Newsweek that modern-day secession would be viewed as "unconstitutional" by the courts.
"States can't unilaterally secede from the U.S.," said Nicoletti. "This was established both by the outcome of our Civil War and by the Supreme Court in the 1869 case Texas v. White. Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution also prohibits states from entering into alliances, treaties, or confederations."
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