The Russian leader has often invoked Ukrainian and Russian history to justify aggression against Ukraine, like during his interview with U.S. host Tucker Carlson in 2024.
If Putin wants to discuss the historicity of the Russia-Ukraine border, the area of Ukrainian speakers used to extend further east into the Caucasus until that region was russified.
Kyiv (482ce) predates Russia, the Soviet Union and Ukraine as a whole and is older than most of its neighbors.
Most of Russian culture is an outflow of kyivan influence not the other way round, ie. Most slavic locals are ethnically and historically kyivan not Russian.
They should have just hung up on him.
His special interest, lmao. He keeps doing this, just like he did with Tucker Carlson.
It’s his primary cassus belli that doesn’t include a responsibility to leave after regime change. If Ukraine is rightfully Russian then he gets a lot of fertile land and a permanent warm water port. Also he clearly considers the loss of Ukraine to be a humiliation since it had been occupied by the czars then made into a soviet republic, but is now completely independent.
In some ways this is like if the UK were to dissolve then 30 years later the English start saying that Wales was always part of England.
History-shmistory. Russia recognized Independent Ukraine in it’s 1991 borders multiple times. Lecturing Scandinavian leaders on whatever he thinks is history is histerical simply because Rurikids were, in fact, Scandinavian slave traders who ran Slavic states for hundreds of years before Muscovy was even though of.
I want to be clear here. In my in my UK example I think Wales has always been a separate entity with the right to self determination, much like Ukraine. Just because both have a long history of being a part of a more imperialist neighbor (typically conquered) doesn’t take any of that away
Cymru am byth. And while we are at it, 26+6=1.
OTOH unlike russkies, not a single time did the Brits invade Ireland after the establishment of independent Irish state
It work on some people.
Another article had this:
During a meeting with US President Donald Trump in Alaska in 2025, Putin delivered another lengthy “historical” speech about Ukraine. This did not go down well with Trump, who became angry and even threatened to walk out.
lololololol Dude, know your audience. Trump cares about nothing but Trump.
