It isn’t “messy” at all. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Ukraine declared its independence, and the newly formed Russian Federation agreed to the new borders.
Russia no longer has any right to that territory, no matter how many ethnic Russians still live there.
I think you’re misunderstanding those sentiments. A lot of people living in Easter Ukraine ARE ethnic Russians. That’s why they see themselves as Russian. Because they are not ethnic Ukrainians.
That’s literally how settler colonialism works. You occupy the land, and claim it as your own.
All vibes-based conjecture written with the air of a young adult novel. Contrary to what you might hear on the news, Putin is not the Russian Federation, and the Russian Federation is not an empire.
Yeah. Maybe I’ll just let Putin speak for himself, then…
He views Russia as a vast empire, that stretches back centuries in a seamless flow of history. He barely acknowledges the Soviet Union as a break from that legacy…and more like just another chapter in it. He is every bit an imperialist, and believes that is what makes Russia great.
It’s pretty laughable that you’re accusing me of creating some kind of “YA fan-fiction”. It would be so much better, if fans of Russia paid more attention to the things Putin actually says, instead of their own glorified head-cannon. You’d realize that most of your ideas about what Russia stands for, are total fantasy.
That description fits Russia’s actions towards Ukraine, perfectly. Putin sees Ukraine as a vassal state, that belongs to Russia. He believes that allowing it the illusion of independence was a mistake, and he intends to reabsorb it into the Russian Federation empire.
Ukrainians on the other hand, do not view themselves as Russian, or even “belonging to Russia”. It is not the same as a single people having a civil war. It is a fight for independence from a larger colonial force, intent on destroying their cultural independence and stealing their land and resources.
Russia IS “doing an imperialism”, though.
No. They didn’t. Students in Ukraine organized those protests. And it was Russian soldiers that started the fighting in the East.