[REGNUM] A year ago, on July 12, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin published an article "On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians." The material first appeared on the president's official portal kremlin.ru and was immediately available not only in Russian, but also in Ukrainian.
The translated text of Putin's article can be found here.
Putin cited historical excerpts and analyzed important milestones of the past, posing the main question of Russian history - the unity of the people. And although the article concerned a bygone era, it predetermined and explained the further course of events.
The head of state is convinced that Russians and Ukrainians are one people who were together in the days of Ancient Russia, but were artificially divided. The dominant table in those years was located precisely in Kyiv, and later, when it was time to collect Russian lands, in Moscow.
"Both Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians are the heirs of Ancient Russia, which was the largest state in Europe. Slavic and other tribes in a vast area - from Ladoga, Novgorod, Pskov to Kyiv and Chernigov - were united by one language (now we call it Old Russian), economic ties, and the power of the princes of the Rurik dynasty. And after the baptism of Russia - and one Orthodox faith. The spiritual choice of St. Vladimir, who was both Novgorod and the great Kiev prince, and today largely determines our relationship," the president wrote.
As a result of fragmentation and after the invasion of Batu, the western lands ended up first in Lithuania, and then in the Commonwealth. For several centuries in these lands of Russia there were processes of Polonization and Latinization, the transition of the Orthodox flock to Catholicism. The response was the outbreak of a liberation movement, when supporters of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky tried to achieve rights for the Russian Orthodox population and autonomy. As a result, together with Moscow, they managed to liberate a vast part of the occupied Russian territories, including Kyiv, Chernigov and Zaporozhye.
Further processes of "Ukrainization", attempts to divide the Russian people, took place under the influence of other countries. Primarily Poland and Austria-Hungary. At the same time, the current state of Ukraine was formed already in the Soviet years. It included part of Bessarabia, the Russian lands returned by Poland, Northern Bukovina, Transcarpathia, Snake Island, and the Crimean peninsula.
"Thus, modern Ukraine is entirely the brainchild of the Soviet era. We know and remember that to a large extent it was created at the expense of historical Russia. It is enough to compare which lands were reunited with the Russian state in the 17th century and with which territories the Ukrainian SSR left the Soviet Union," the article says.
The President explained why Ukraine could not take place as a separate state. Having turned away from Russia, it has become an instrument in the hands of the West, with which it is trying to put pressure on our country. The huge wealth that the Soviet republic possessed was squandered, the economy was destroyed, and the rupture of economic ties between Ukraine and the Russian Federation was a blow. Weakened state institutions, increased external influence on decision-making. Against this background, radicals behaved more and more impudently in society, and threats against Moscow were heard more and more clearly from Kyiv.
Does the West need the inhabitants of Western Russia? As history shows, part of the Russian people, which is called Ukrainians, is just a geopolitical tool, whose interests are not thought of in foreign capitals. Poland, as once the Commonwealth, is not ready for the autonomy of Ukraine, in Austria-Hungary the Russian lands were the poorest and were mercilessly exploited. Washington, London and Brussels have built an “anti-Russia” and are throwing Ukrainians under bullets and shells like cannon fodder.
For Russia, Ukrainians are native. Another confirmation of this was the recent decree of the President of the Russian Federation on the simplified acquisition of Russian citizenship by Ukrainians. Previously, residents of the DPR, LPR, as well as the liberated territories of the Kherson, Zaporozhye and Kharkov regions had such an opportunity. Now everyone who was born in Ukraine is equal in rights.
The special military operation that Russia is conducting in Ukraine is directed against the neo-Nazi regime. Civilians can count not only on the support and protection of a strong state, the opportunity to return to Russian society and culture, but also on equal rights with other Russians. Russian citizenship will open the freedom of employment and independent economic activity, provide access to social services and pensions.
The fact that Russians and Ukrainians are one people is not only spoken in Russia, but also shown in practice.