Way back in 1991, as the once-mighty Soviet Union disintegrated and Westerners cheered, Vladimir Putin’s favorite rock ‘n’ roll band released “Don’t Fool Around, America,” a patriotic hit about an even older lost cause — Russia’s 1867 sale of Alaska to the United States.

In the past, large-scale exercises “occurred in Alaska,” one general says. “Now, this is high-end training that is occurring — that is about Alaska, from Alaska.”