Putin: "Ukraine is Historically Part of Russia"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Ukraine itself was originally part of the former Soviet Union and had no foundation as an independent country.

On the 21st (local time), President Putin stated in a national address that he would recognize the independence of the pro-Russian separatist entities in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, the self-proclaimed 'Luhansk People's Republic' (LPR) and 'Donetsk People's Republic' (DPR).

Through state media, President Putin said, "Ukraine is not simply a neighboring country to us, but an inseparable part of Russia's own history, culture, and spiritual world," adding, "Modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia, more specifically by the Bolsheviks and Communist Russia."

He continued, "This process actually began immediately after the 1917 (Socialist) revolution," and added, "Lenin and his comrades pushed this process in a very harsh way for Russia by separating and detaching some of Russia's historic territories."

He went on, "Around the time of the Great Patriotic War (World War II), Stalin transferred some lands that belonged to Poland, Romania, and Hungary to Ukraine, and in 1954, Khrushchev inexplicably detached the Crimean Peninsula from Russia and gifted it to Ukraine," explaining, "This is how the actual territory of Ukraine was formed."

Furthermore, he criticized Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev for strengthening the 'myth of Ukrainian independence' and said that the government at the time allowed Ukraine to slip from Moscow's grasp.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.