Russian President Vladimir Putin believes “all of Ukraine is ours,” he declared last week. The Kremlin leader’s revealing statement is an indication of the increasingly confident mood in Moscow as Russia continues to make slow but steady progress on the Ukrainian battlefield against a backdrop of deepening Western disunity. It also serves as a timely reminder of the unapologetic Russian imperialism that is driving Europe’s largest invasion since World War II.
Putin’s comments came on June 20 during his headliner appearance at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, a flagship annual event that is often referred to as Russia’s Davos. “I have said many times that I consider the Russian and Ukrainian peoples to be one people. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours,” Putin told forum guests. “We have an old rule. Wherever a Russian soldier sets foot is ours.”
Tellingly, Putin’s claim that “all of Ukraine” belongs to Russia was met with what appeared to be spontaneous laughter and applause from many of those attending the St. Petersburg event. This strikingly enthusiastic audience reaction says much about the normalization of imperialistic sentiment in today’s Russia after more than eleven years of the country’s colonial war against neighboring Ukraine.
Voice of Ukraine 