15.07.2021 – 07:01
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Ukraine is a state created by Soviet “generosity”, which today rises over large territories that have traditionally and historically been Russian.
through an article published on the official website of the Kremlin, the Russian President describes how the entire territory of Ukraine was once under the control of the Russian Empire and how Ukrainians and Russians can trace back in history the common roots.
Putin says much of Ukraine is historically and ethnically Russian, and that Kiev’s orientation toward the West is a rejection of these ties to Moscow and the political, historical and cultural reality between the two countries.
“Modern Ukraine is a creature of the Soviet era. We all know and remember this. For the most part it was created at the expense of historic Russian territories. “Russia’s borders have been unjustly narrowed and large territories have been generously donated,” said the Kremlin chief.
However, Putin says that despite the clashes and tense political relations with Kiev, Russia supports Ukrainian citizens in the right to self-determination.
He closes the article by saying that Russia has never been anti-Ukraine and that Ukraine’s future must be decided by its own citizens.
Russia and Ukraine have been in military conflict for years. Moscow annexed Crimea, while openly supporting pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region.
