"Together, we have always been and will be many times stronger and more successful. After all, we are one nation."
Polish portal, niezalezna(dot)pl, presents numerous quotes from Putin's last week's article and calls it his "Mein Kampf."
Vladimir Putin's article "On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians" published last week on July 12, was included as one of the obligatory writings for military and political training in the Russian army. Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu issued a relevant order for this purpose.
In Putin's text, the evil West uses the elite to act against the Ukrainians and the Russians, destroying the Ukrainians and destroying Russia. As in "Mein Kampf," Hitler saw the conspiracy of the Jews, here Putin sees the conspiracy of the West and the Poles. By spinning a false, mythologized historical vision of Russia, he suggests the need to revise the borders with Ukraine and across Europe - writes the author.
In the article, Putin argues that "the true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible in partnership with Russia." He also repeats the opinion he expressed many times that Russia and Ukraine are "one nation."
Here are some quotes from Putin's paper:
"In 1939, the lands previously occupied by Poland were returned to the USSR. Most of them were annexed to Soviet Ukraine. In 1940, part of Bessarabia, occupied by Romania in 1918, and northern Bukovina became part of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1948 also Snake Island in the Black Sea. In 1954, the Crimean region of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) was transferred to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) - in gross violation of the legal norms in place at that time."
[...]
"Undoubtedly, "indigenization" played a significant role in developing and strengthening Ukrainian culture, language, and identity. At the same time, under the guise of fighting the so-called Russian chauvinism, Ukrainization was often imposed on those who did not consider themselves Ukrainians. It was the Soviet national policy - instead of the great Russian nation, composed of three nations: Great Russians, Lessers Russians, and Belarusians - established at the state level the provision of three separate Slavic nations: Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian."
[...]
"Ukraine is currently the poorest country in Europe. Who is to blame for this? Is it the population of Ukraine? Of course not. It was the Ukrainian authorities who squandered and lost the achievements of many generations."
[...]
"It will not be an exaggeration to say that the course for violent assimilation, for the emergence of an ethnically pure Ukrainian state, aggressively focused on Russia, is comparable in its effects to the use of weapons of mass destruction against us. As a result of such a vast, artificial gap between Russians and Ukrainians, the total number of Russians could be reduced by hundreds of thousands or even millions. The "anti-Russian" project was rejected by millions of Ukrainians. The inhabitants of Crimea and Sevastopol made their historical choice. The people of the Southeast have tried to defend themselves peacefully but everyone, including children, was labeled separatists and terrorists. They were threatened with ethnic cleansing and the use of military force. And the inhabitants of Donetsk and Luhansk took up arms to protect their home, language, and life. Did they have a different choice - after the pogroms that swept through the cities of Ukraine, after the horror and tragedy of May 2, 2014, in Odessa, where Ukrainian neo-Nazis burned people alive, creating a new Khatyn? Bandera's supporters were ready to carry out the same repressions in Crimea, Sevastopol, Donetsk and Luhansk. They still do not give up on such plans. They are prepared for action at any time."
In his article, Putin almost openly says: "I encourage you to start a civil war, I urge you to overthrow the Ukrainian authorities. I will help you, and I am ready to use real weapons if anyone tries to interfere in this."
