Thirty years after its independence, Ukraine is still the scene of tensions with Russia. In recent weeks, the deployment of Russian troops to its borders has caused a new crisis between the two countries. Analyzing elements of the history of Ukraine, it is possible to understand what this country represents for Russia, but above all how Putin would be using the common history to justify his pressure on this nation and consolidate his power in Russia.
Last July, Russian President Vladimir Putin published a text on the Kremelin website in which he stated that “Russia and Ukraine are the same people.” This statement, and it is not the first time that Putin has made it, perfectly illustrates how the Russian head of state sees the former Republic of the Soviet Union.
According to Putin, Ukraine is not only a state with which Russia shares a history and heritage, it is a territory that is part of its zone of influence, and even of his country. Sharing this speech with the entire Russian population is a way of justifying its desire to have control over Ukraine, according to experts consulted by this means.
Russians generally consider Ukraine to be “naturally” part of Russia. Historically, Ukraine has a lot of symbolic importance, since the first state of the Slavs was Kievan Rus. It appeared in the 9th century and had Kiev as its capital. Moscow Russia was only born in the 14th century.
In addition, there is broad support for Putin’s imperialist policy within Russia, his popularity was never as high as after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, when public opinion in favor of the president reached 88%.
The Russian language is also a marker of closeness between the two peoples, which helps Putin justify his position in Ukraine. Still today, Ukraine is a bilingual country where Ukrainian and Russian are spoken on a daily basis. In fact, 90% of the Ukrainian population is bilingual and about 30% consider Russian as their mother tongue. According to Cyrille Glaoguen, a doctor in geography specializing in the Russian world, “between 60% and 70% of the Ukrainian population uses Russian in everyday life, at university, in business (…), in the army, in aeronautics, etc.
Ukraine, historically divided and in search of independence
In Old Slavonic, the term ‘Ukraine’ can be translated as “border country”. It has a strategic position between Russia and Europe and has always been divided and controlled by several countries.
Ukraine lived between the influence of Poland to the west, and Russia to the east. However, as Jochen Kleinschmidt, a political scientist and researcher at the Eichstätt-Ingolstadt Catholic University, explains, it should be remembered that Ukraine was always a separate entity, formed by the Cossacks. The Ukrainian national anthem recalls this heritage and ends like this:
“Soul and body we will sacrifice for our freedom. And we will show that we, brothers, are from the Cossack nation.”
In the 17th century, Ukraine decided to place itself under the protection of the Russian Tsar in order to protect itself from Polish influence. But during the Russian empire, it experienced a lot of repression from the Russian power, the Ukrainian language was banned, and Ukraine was gradually assimilated into the empire.
It was only in 1917, after the Russian revolution, that the country enjoyed three years of independence before becoming a Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR.
“Little Russia”
According to Jochen Kleinschmidt, “Little Russia” is an expression that began to be used in the 19th century in Russian imperial rhetoric to emphasize that Ukraine is part of Russia.
It was also the symbol of the greatness and prosperity of Ukraine. Within the Soviet Union, Ukraine had a particular status. It had a very important economic role, being the center of production of steel, coal, missiles and tanks. It was also a nuclear power, just before becoming independent in 1991, Ukraine had the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world. It was also a great academic center of the Soviet Union. Ukraine was, in a nutshell, the showcase of Russia’s greatness.
However, this Socialist Republic of the USSR was always the object of fear and suspicion on the part of the Russian power, fearing that it would approach Poland or rebel against the power. In the 1930s, Ukraine experienced a famine planned by the Soviet power that left 3.5 million dead in just eight months. This famine was the consequence of the forced collectivization of the campaigns in the country, but it was also planned by Josef Stalin to stop eventual national and rebel movements in the Ukraine. Kleinschmidt explains that one can speak of a genocide that left Ukrainians traumatized.
When the Soviet Union fell in 1991, Ukraine became independent and returned to repressed autonomy for a while. However, not everyone came to accept it. Putin always believed that “the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century”, and this would have led him to want to recover his former zone of influence.
Crimea and breakaway regions
Crimea is a peninsula of two million inhabitants, north of the Black Sea. It has become the symbol of Russia’s imperialist struggles in Ukraine. In 1783, after several years of Russo-Turkish war, Crimea was annexed to the Russian Empire. In 1921, it became the Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic and underwent a violent process of Sovietization. In 1954, for the tercentenary of Ukraine’s union with the Russian Empire, Nikita Khrouchtchev, at the time the head of the Soviet Union, decided to hand Crimea over to Ukraine.
At the fall of the USSR, Boris Yeltsin recognized Crimea as a territory within the borders of Ukraine, but the region suffered strong separatist movements. After the Maidan revolution of 2014, against President Yanukovitch and for a partnership with Europe, Putin did not accept the new pro-European government in Ukraine and was accused of sending troops to Crimea. The peninsula declared its independence on March 11 and on March 18, following a referendum, Putin announced the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation.
The 2014 revolution also sparked a civil war in the Donbass region, where separatists are still fighting the Ukrainian army.
Vladimir Putin tries to increase his influence in the breakaway regions of Ukraine. The Russian ruble is already mostly used in these places. The president also distributed passports to locals. Of the 2 million inhabitants of these regions, already 600,000 have Russian passports.
The threat on Ukraine, a political strategy of Putin?
Despite being independent for decades, Putin continues to demand that Ukraine be a Russian colony, as Kleinschmidt explains. The historical and cultural discourses that supposedly show how Ukraine belonged to Russia and how it was taken from it are used by the Russian president to justify his policies towards Ukraine. But in reality, it is likely that even Putin himself does not believe in these speeches, says the expert.
For the political scientist, Ukraine is a country of great strategic importance to Putin, not so much because of its economy, its position as a buffer zone between Russia and Europe, or its history, but because it is a Russian-speaking country that could become a model of democratic society.
Ukraine is much more complex than a country divided between pro-Europe and Ukrainian-speaking to the west and pro-Putin and Russian-speaking to the east. In Ukraine, speaking Russian does not mean supporting Russia and today, only 10% of Ukrainians are pro-Russian. In addition, many exiled Russians have taken refuge in the Ukraine. Putin fears having a neighbor who shares his language and who could become a protest force against Russian power.
Kleinschmidt explains that there are “useful enemies” that make it possible to create cohesion within a country. For Russia, the Ukrainian case is a way of uniting Russian elites and “producing stability within the Russian leadership.”
Thirty years after its independence, Ukraine is still the scene of tensions with Russia. In recent weeks, the deployment of Russian troops to its borders has caused a new crisis between the two countries. Analyzing elements of the history of Ukraine, it is possible to understand what this country represents for Russia, but above all how Putin would be using the common history to justify his pressure on this nation and consolidate his power in Russia.
Last July, Russian President Vladimir Putin published a text on the Kremelin website in which he stated that “Russia and Ukraine are the same people.” This statement, and it is not the first time that Putin has made it, perfectly illustrates how the Russian head of state sees the former Republic of the Soviet Union.
According to Putin, Ukraine is not only a state with which Russia shares a history and heritage, it is a territory that is part of its zone of influence, and even of his country. Sharing this speech with the entire Russian population is a way of justifying its desire to have control over Ukraine, according to experts consulted by this means.
Russians generally consider Ukraine to be “naturally” part of Russia. Historically, Ukraine has a lot of symbolic importance, since the first state of the Slavs was Kievan Rus. It appeared in the 9th century and had Kiev as its capital. Moscow Russia was only born in the 14th century.
In addition, there is broad support for Putin’s imperialist policy within Russia, his popularity was never as high as after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, when public opinion in favor of the president reached 88%.
The Russian language is also a marker of closeness between the two peoples, which helps Putin justify his position in Ukraine. Still today, Ukraine is a bilingual country where Ukrainian and Russian are spoken on a daily basis. In fact, 90% of the Ukrainian population is bilingual and about 30% consider Russian as their mother tongue. According to Cyrille Glaoguen, a doctor in geography specializing in the Russian world, “between 60% and 70% of the Ukrainian population uses Russian in everyday life, at university, in business (…), in the army, in aeronautics, etc.
Ukraine, historically divided and in search of independence
In Old Slavonic, the term ‘Ukraine’ can be translated as “border country”. It has a strategic position between Russia and Europe and has always been divided and controlled by several countries.
Ukraine lived between the influence of Poland to the west, and Russia to the east. However, as Jochen Kleinschmidt, a political scientist and researcher at the Eichstätt-Ingolstadt Catholic University, explains, it should be remembered that Ukraine was always a separate entity, formed by the Cossacks. The Ukrainian national anthem recalls this heritage and ends like this:
“Soul and body we will sacrifice for our freedom. And we will show that we, brothers, are from the Cossack nation.”
In the 17th century, Ukraine decided to place itself under the protection of the Russian Tsar in order to protect itself from Polish influence. But during the Russian empire, it experienced a lot of repression from the Russian power, the Ukrainian language was banned, and Ukraine was gradually assimilated into the empire.
It was only in 1917, after the Russian revolution, that the country enjoyed three years of independence before becoming a Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR.
“Little Russia”
According to Jochen Kleinschmidt, “Little Russia” is an expression that began to be used in the 19th century in Russian imperial rhetoric to emphasize that Ukraine is part of Russia.
It was also the symbol of the greatness and prosperity of Ukraine. Within the Soviet Union, Ukraine had a particular status. It had a very important economic role, being the center of production of steel, coal, missiles and tanks. It was also a nuclear power, just before becoming independent in 1991, Ukraine had the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world. It was also a great academic center of the Soviet Union. Ukraine was, in a nutshell, the showcase of Russia’s greatness.
However, this Socialist Republic of the USSR was always the object of fear and suspicion on the part of the Russian power, fearing that it would approach Poland or rebel against the power. In the 1930s, Ukraine experienced a famine planned by the Soviet power that left 3.5 million dead in just eight months. This famine was the consequence of the forced collectivization of the campaigns in the country, but it was also planned by Josef Stalin to stop eventual national and rebel movements in the Ukraine. Kleinschmidt explains that one can speak of a genocide that left Ukrainians traumatized.
When the Soviet Union fell in 1991, Ukraine became independent and returned to repressed autonomy for a while. However, not everyone came to accept it. Putin always believed that “the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century”, and this would have led him to want to recover his former zone of influence.
Crimea and breakaway regions
Crimea is a peninsula of two million inhabitants, north of the Black Sea. It has become the symbol of Russia’s imperialist struggles in Ukraine. In 1783, after several years of Russo-Turkish war, Crimea was annexed to the Russian Empire. In 1921, it became the Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic and underwent a violent process of Sovietization. In 1954, for the tercentenary of Ukraine’s union with the Russian Empire, Nikita Khrouchtchev, at the time the head of the Soviet Union, decided to hand Crimea over to Ukraine.
At the fall of the USSR, Boris Yeltsin recognized Crimea as a territory within the borders of Ukraine, but the region suffered strong separatist movements. After the Maidan revolution of 2014, against President Yanukovitch and for a partnership with Europe, Putin did not accept the new pro-European government in Ukraine and was accused of sending troops to Crimea. The peninsula declared its independence on March 11 and on March 18, following a referendum, Putin announced the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation.
The 2014 revolution also sparked a civil war in the Donbass region, where separatists are still fighting the Ukrainian army.
Vladimir Putin tries to increase his influence in the breakaway regions of Ukraine. The Russian ruble is already mostly used in these places. The president also distributed passports to locals. Of the 2 million inhabitants of these regions, already 600,000 have Russian passports.
The threat on Ukraine, a political strategy of Putin?
Despite being independent for decades, Putin continues to demand that Ukraine be a Russian colony, as Kleinschmidt explains. The historical and cultural discourses that supposedly show how Ukraine belonged to Russia and how it was taken from it are used by the Russian president to justify his policies towards Ukraine. But in reality, it is likely that even Putin himself does not believe in these speeches, says the expert.
For the political scientist, Ukraine is a country of great strategic importance to Putin, not so much because of its economy, its position as a buffer zone between Russia and Europe, or its history, but because it is a Russian-speaking country that could become a model of democratic society.
Ukraine is much more complex than a country divided between pro-Europe and Ukrainian-speaking to the west and pro-Putin and Russian-speaking to the east. In Ukraine, speaking Russian does not mean supporting Russia and today, only 10% of Ukrainians are pro-Russian. In addition, many exiled Russians have taken refuge in the Ukraine. Putin fears having a neighbor who shares his language and who could become a protest force against Russian power.
Kleinschmidt explains that there are “useful enemies” that make it possible to create cohesion within a country. For Russia, the Ukrainian case is a way of uniting Russian elites and “producing stability within the Russian leadership.”
Thirty years after its independence, Ukraine is still the scene of tensions with Russia. In recent weeks, the deployment of Russian troops to its borders has caused a new crisis between the two countries. Analyzing elements of the history of Ukraine, it is possible to understand what this country represents for Russia, but above all how Putin would be using the common history to justify his pressure on this nation and consolidate his power in Russia.
Last July, Russian President Vladimir Putin published a text on the Kremelin website in which he stated that “Russia and Ukraine are the same people.” This statement, and it is not the first time that Putin has made it, perfectly illustrates how the Russian head of state sees the former Republic of the Soviet Union.
According to Putin, Ukraine is not only a state with which Russia shares a history and heritage, it is a territory that is part of its zone of influence, and even of his country. Sharing this speech with the entire Russian population is a way of justifying its desire to have control over Ukraine, according to experts consulted by this means.
Russians generally consider Ukraine to be “naturally” part of Russia. Historically, Ukraine has a lot of symbolic importance, since the first state of the Slavs was Kievan Rus. It appeared in the 9th century and had Kiev as its capital. Moscow Russia was only born in the 14th century.
In addition, there is broad support for Putin’s imperialist policy within Russia, his popularity was never as high as after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, when public opinion in favor of the president reached 88%.
The Russian language is also a marker of closeness between the two peoples, which helps Putin justify his position in Ukraine. Still today, Ukraine is a bilingual country where Ukrainian and Russian are spoken on a daily basis. In fact, 90% of the Ukrainian population is bilingual and about 30% consider Russian as their mother tongue. According to Cyrille Glaoguen, a doctor in geography specializing in the Russian world, “between 60% and 70% of the Ukrainian population uses Russian in everyday life, at university, in business (…), in the army, in aeronautics, etc.
Ukraine, historically divided and in search of independence
In Old Slavonic, the term ‘Ukraine’ can be translated as “border country”. It has a strategic position between Russia and Europe and has always been divided and controlled by several countries.
Ukraine lived between the influence of Poland to the west, and Russia to the east. However, as Jochen Kleinschmidt, a political scientist and researcher at the Eichstätt-Ingolstadt Catholic University, explains, it should be remembered that Ukraine was always a separate entity, formed by the Cossacks. The Ukrainian national anthem recalls this heritage and ends like this:
“Soul and body we will sacrifice for our freedom. And we will show that we, brothers, are from the Cossack nation.”
In the 17th century, Ukraine decided to place itself under the protection of the Russian Tsar in order to protect itself from Polish influence. But during the Russian empire, it experienced a lot of repression from the Russian power, the Ukrainian language was banned, and Ukraine was gradually assimilated into the empire.
It was only in 1917, after the Russian revolution, that the country enjoyed three years of independence before becoming a Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR.
“Little Russia”
According to Jochen Kleinschmidt, “Little Russia” is an expression that began to be used in the 19th century in Russian imperial rhetoric to emphasize that Ukraine is part of Russia.
It was also the symbol of the greatness and prosperity of Ukraine. Within the Soviet Union, Ukraine had a particular status. It had a very important economic role, being the center of production of steel, coal, missiles and tanks. It was also a nuclear power, just before becoming independent in 1991, Ukraine had the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world. It was also a great academic center of the Soviet Union. Ukraine was, in a nutshell, the showcase of Russia’s greatness.
However, this Socialist Republic of the USSR was always the object of fear and suspicion on the part of the Russian power, fearing that it would approach Poland or rebel against the power. In the 1930s, Ukraine experienced a famine planned by the Soviet power that left 3.5 million dead in just eight months. This famine was the consequence of the forced collectivization of the campaigns in the country, but it was also planned by Josef Stalin to stop eventual national and rebel movements in the Ukraine. Kleinschmidt explains that one can speak of a genocide that left Ukrainians traumatized.
When the Soviet Union fell in 1991, Ukraine became independent and returned to repressed autonomy for a while. However, not everyone came to accept it. Putin always believed that “the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century”, and this would have led him to want to recover his former zone of influence.
Crimea and breakaway regions
Crimea is a peninsula of two million inhabitants, north of the Black Sea. It has become the symbol of Russia’s imperialist struggles in Ukraine. In 1783, after several years of Russo-Turkish war, Crimea was annexed to the Russian Empire. In 1921, it became the Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic and underwent a violent process of Sovietization. In 1954, for the tercentenary of Ukraine’s union with the Russian Empire, Nikita Khrouchtchev, at the time the head of the Soviet Union, decided to hand Crimea over to Ukraine.
At the fall of the USSR, Boris Yeltsin recognized Crimea as a territory within the borders of Ukraine, but the region suffered strong separatist movements. After the Maidan revolution of 2014, against President Yanukovitch and for a partnership with Europe, Putin did not accept the new pro-European government in Ukraine and was accused of sending troops to Crimea. The peninsula declared its independence on March 11 and on March 18, following a referendum, Putin announced the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation.
The 2014 revolution also sparked a civil war in the Donbass region, where separatists are still fighting the Ukrainian army.
Vladimir Putin tries to increase his influence in the breakaway regions of Ukraine. The Russian ruble is already mostly used in these places. The president also distributed passports to locals. Of the 2 million inhabitants of these regions, already 600,000 have Russian passports.
The threat on Ukraine, a political strategy of Putin?
Despite being independent for decades, Putin continues to demand that Ukraine be a Russian colony, as Kleinschmidt explains. The historical and cultural discourses that supposedly show how Ukraine belonged to Russia and how it was taken from it are used by the Russian president to justify his policies towards Ukraine. But in reality, it is likely that even Putin himself does not believe in these speeches, says the expert.
For the political scientist, Ukraine is a country of great strategic importance to Putin, not so much because of its economy, its position as a buffer zone between Russia and Europe, or its history, but because it is a Russian-speaking country that could become a model of democratic society.
Ukraine is much more complex than a country divided between pro-Europe and Ukrainian-speaking to the west and pro-Putin and Russian-speaking to the east. In Ukraine, speaking Russian does not mean supporting Russia and today, only 10% of Ukrainians are pro-Russian. In addition, many exiled Russians have taken refuge in the Ukraine. Putin fears having a neighbor who shares his language and who could become a protest force against Russian power.
Kleinschmidt explains that there are “useful enemies” that make it possible to create cohesion within a country. For Russia, the Ukrainian case is a way of uniting Russian elites and “producing stability within the Russian leadership.”
Thirty years after its independence, Ukraine is still the scene of tensions with Russia. In recent weeks, the deployment of Russian troops to its borders has caused a new crisis between the two countries. Analyzing elements of the history of Ukraine, it is possible to understand what this country represents for Russia, but above all how Putin would be using the common history to justify his pressure on this nation and consolidate his power in Russia.
Last July, Russian President Vladimir Putin published a text on the Kremelin website in which he stated that “Russia and Ukraine are the same people.” This statement, and it is not the first time that Putin has made it, perfectly illustrates how the Russian head of state sees the former Republic of the Soviet Union.
According to Putin, Ukraine is not only a state with which Russia shares a history and heritage, it is a territory that is part of its zone of influence, and even of his country. Sharing this speech with the entire Russian population is a way of justifying its desire to have control over Ukraine, according to experts consulted by this means.
Russians generally consider Ukraine to be “naturally” part of Russia. Historically, Ukraine has a lot of symbolic importance, since the first state of the Slavs was Kievan Rus. It appeared in the 9th century and had Kiev as its capital. Moscow Russia was only born in the 14th century.
In addition, there is broad support for Putin’s imperialist policy within Russia, his popularity was never as high as after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, when public opinion in favor of the president reached 88%.
The Russian language is also a marker of closeness between the two peoples, which helps Putin justify his position in Ukraine. Still today, Ukraine is a bilingual country where Ukrainian and Russian are spoken on a daily basis. In fact, 90% of the Ukrainian population is bilingual and about 30% consider Russian as their mother tongue. According to Cyrille Glaoguen, a doctor in geography specializing in the Russian world, “between 60% and 70% of the Ukrainian population uses Russian in everyday life, at university, in business (…), in the army, in aeronautics, etc.
Ukraine, historically divided and in search of independence
In Old Slavonic, the term ‘Ukraine’ can be translated as “border country”. It has a strategic position between Russia and Europe and has always been divided and controlled by several countries.
Ukraine lived between the influence of Poland to the west, and Russia to the east. However, as Jochen Kleinschmidt, a political scientist and researcher at the Eichstätt-Ingolstadt Catholic University, explains, it should be remembered that Ukraine was always a separate entity, formed by the Cossacks. The Ukrainian national anthem recalls this heritage and ends like this:
“Soul and body we will sacrifice for our freedom. And we will show that we, brothers, are from the Cossack nation.”
In the 17th century, Ukraine decided to place itself under the protection of the Russian Tsar in order to protect itself from Polish influence. But during the Russian empire, it experienced a lot of repression from the Russian power, the Ukrainian language was banned, and Ukraine was gradually assimilated into the empire.
It was only in 1917, after the Russian revolution, that the country enjoyed three years of independence before becoming a Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR.
“Little Russia”
According to Jochen Kleinschmidt, “Little Russia” is an expression that began to be used in the 19th century in Russian imperial rhetoric to emphasize that Ukraine is part of Russia.
It was also the symbol of the greatness and prosperity of Ukraine. Within the Soviet Union, Ukraine had a particular status. It had a very important economic role, being the center of production of steel, coal, missiles and tanks. It was also a nuclear power, just before becoming independent in 1991, Ukraine had the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world. It was also a great academic center of the Soviet Union. Ukraine was, in a nutshell, the showcase of Russia’s greatness.
However, this Socialist Republic of the USSR was always the object of fear and suspicion on the part of the Russian power, fearing that it would approach Poland or rebel against the power. In the 1930s, Ukraine experienced a famine planned by the Soviet power that left 3.5 million dead in just eight months. This famine was the consequence of the forced collectivization of the campaigns in the country, but it was also planned by Josef Stalin to stop eventual national and rebel movements in the Ukraine. Kleinschmidt explains that one can speak of a genocide that left Ukrainians traumatized.
When the Soviet Union fell in 1991, Ukraine became independent and returned to repressed autonomy for a while. However, not everyone came to accept it. Putin always believed that “the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century”, and this would have led him to want to recover his former zone of influence.
Crimea and breakaway regions
Crimea is a peninsula of two million inhabitants, north of the Black Sea. It has become the symbol of Russia’s imperialist struggles in Ukraine. In 1783, after several years of Russo-Turkish war, Crimea was annexed to the Russian Empire. In 1921, it became the Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic and underwent a violent process of Sovietization. In 1954, for the tercentenary of Ukraine’s union with the Russian Empire, Nikita Khrouchtchev, at the time the head of the Soviet Union, decided to hand Crimea over to Ukraine.
At the fall of the USSR, Boris Yeltsin recognized Crimea as a territory within the borders of Ukraine, but the region suffered strong separatist movements. After the Maidan revolution of 2014, against President Yanukovitch and for a partnership with Europe, Putin did not accept the new pro-European government in Ukraine and was accused of sending troops to Crimea. The peninsula declared its independence on March 11 and on March 18, following a referendum, Putin announced the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation.
The 2014 revolution also sparked a civil war in the Donbass region, where separatists are still fighting the Ukrainian army.
Vladimir Putin tries to increase his influence in the breakaway regions of Ukraine. The Russian ruble is already mostly used in these places. The president also distributed passports to locals. Of the 2 million inhabitants of these regions, already 600,000 have Russian passports.
The threat on Ukraine, a political strategy of Putin?
Despite being independent for decades, Putin continues to demand that Ukraine be a Russian colony, as Kleinschmidt explains. The historical and cultural discourses that supposedly show how Ukraine belonged to Russia and how it was taken from it are used by the Russian president to justify his policies towards Ukraine. But in reality, it is likely that even Putin himself does not believe in these speeches, says the expert.
For the political scientist, Ukraine is a country of great strategic importance to Putin, not so much because of its economy, its position as a buffer zone between Russia and Europe, or its history, but because it is a Russian-speaking country that could become a model of democratic society.
Ukraine is much more complex than a country divided between pro-Europe and Ukrainian-speaking to the west and pro-Putin and Russian-speaking to the east. In Ukraine, speaking Russian does not mean supporting Russia and today, only 10% of Ukrainians are pro-Russian. In addition, many exiled Russians have taken refuge in the Ukraine. Putin fears having a neighbor who shares his language and who could become a protest force against Russian power.
Kleinschmidt explains that there are “useful enemies” that make it possible to create cohesion within a country. For Russia, the Ukrainian case is a way of uniting Russian elites and “producing stability within the Russian leadership.”