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‘We are one people’: Russia worries Ukraine ” different approach ‘

With Russia at risk of rising prices and the fragmentation of Covid vaccine passports, television newscasts have become a hot topic in times of crisis: Ukraine, the “brothers’ country” – well-known in the Kremlin. .

The growing tension is westward beyond army near the border has highlighted Russia’s conflict with Ukraine over seven years of war that has killed more than 14,000 people in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas.

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, has denied any Russian involvement in the Kyiv conflict with Moscow-led separatists, but made Ukraine a major 30-minute talk to foreign political leaders this week, telling them that the war was a western commemoration. not crossing Russia’s “red lines”.

This includes the promise that Nato will stop growing in Ukraine, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who described it as “unethical and unacceptable to us”.

The situation in Ukraine is particularly difficult for Russians, who have remained culturally and relatives in the country despite years of war.

Evgeny Popov, legislator and co-founder 60 minutes, Russia’s most popular television show, is a reality: he is unable to meet his father, who lives in a Ukrainian city he cannot name, due to the Ukrainian security crackdown.

“People don’t watch the shows because it’s fun – they see what is happening to their relatives and loved ones,” Popov said.

“We are one people. It’s the same place – it just so happens that we are on the other side of the border because of bad people, “he added.

Investigators say Putin’s desire to oust Ukraine from Western influence is fueled by the belief that it is an integral part of the “Russian state”, the Moscow-based part of the Soviet Union and the Tsarist empire.

Putin described the collapse of the USSR, which separated millions of married couples from all parts of Ukraine’s borders, as “the greatest political crisis of the 20th century” and questioned why Ukraine had left Russia.

Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Putin likened the island of Ukraine, where Vladimir the Great – the first Christian ruler of Rus, an ancient Kyiv state – was baptized in 988AD, as “the mountain of the Russian temple” – a concept without a theological basis. but threw Putin as an advocate for the Russian people everywhere.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he ‘is convinced that real Ukrainian rule is only possible in cooperation with Russia’ © AP

Moscow has tried to do so in defiance of Kyiv-based laws aimed at promoting the Ukrainian language, including restrictions on the use of the Russian language in public and excluding Russians from the list of “Ukrainians.”

Language laws have shown that there is no conflict in Ukraine, where Ukrainian is gaining ground even among Russian-speaking people, but it provides enough food for Russian TV.

“They are trying to destroy the Russian people. We need to save those people, “Popov said.

In July, Putin published a 5,000-word article, apparently based on his previous research in which he wrote “he was convinced that real Ukrainian rule is only possible in cooperation with Russia” and vowed that Moscow would not allow the country to do so. being “anti-Russia”.

“In Putin’s understanding, the people of Ukraine are one with the Russians, which is why they should support the merger with Russia. Politics. “If the Americans left, the world would be united. . . and all shall be well. Or Putin thinks. “

The issue raised concerns in Ukraine that Putin – who had turned down requests to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and appeared uninterested in the Ukrainian peace process – had a high opinion of the country.

“Putin intends to re-establish a new empire. It has been deeply ingrained in his mind. Not only Ukraine’s success, but any other way of Ukraine could seriously undermine Russian mythology,” said Pavlo Klimkin, a former Ukrainian foreign minister.

Klimkin, who was born in Kursk, Russia, also said: “The Russian news is that in Ukraine there is no such thing as a famous people, including history, language, ideology and geography. Putin’s views on Ukraine are very irrational. Ukrainians and Russians have two things in common. ”

Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, said Russia had neglected to study Ukrainian demographics for years in order to deal with well-selected people, many of whom had close ties with Moscow until 2014.

The unpredictable situation prompted the Kremlin to curb the spread of western populations, such as the 2004 Orange transition and Euromaidan protests a decade later, as well as foreign deception rather than a dramatic change for the Ukrainian population, Trenin said.

The war contributed to social change to the point where “a different country of Ukraine does not agree to any alliance with Russia”, added Trenin.

Ukraine’s cultural ties to Russia have made the Moscow-US conflict extremist security even more serious, Popov said, comparing Nato’s recent developments in Ukraine with Western aid to the Kyiv military and the Cuban weapons crisis.

“There is a good joke that holds what it means – Russia and America will fight each other until there are no Ukrainians,” Popov said. “America is far away, it is a political opportunity. [ . . .] located in Ukraine. Why do we need to be patient? ”

Additional reports of Roman Olearchyk in Kyiv


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