On the genesis of Putin's views

The short conclusion is as follows:

At the first stage (his two presidential terms and one prime ministerial term), Putin was forced to keep his cool and recognize the full independence of the Ukrainian people, though he constantly emphasized "brotherhood" with Russians, as was customary in the USSR. In the second stage (from 2013), when Russia under the late Viktor Yanukovych was preparing to absorb Ukraine and, when it failed, occupied Crimea, new notes appeared in the Kremlin narrative. In addition to the "brotherly nations," a "single people" was introduced to the public, albeit in a very limited form. Russians and Ukrainians were recognized as one in the distant past, but in the present, each nation is considered separate, albeit fraternal. The third stage (from 2019) encompasses mature Putin’s politics and is characterized by the gradual absorption of the "single nation" myth by the "brotherly" myth, and the full-scale invasion did not add anything conceptually new here, it just sharpened the wording.

"Putin's views have changed to a more violent side. He wasn't "just a corrupt official" before and didn't become a bloody maniac later on, he's always been like that. Think of Ryazan sugar and the second Chechnya, the Kursk nuclear submarine, Beslan. Putin didn't care about the lives of people and entire countries"

As I've written many times before, I don't believe that Putin's views have changed to a more violent side. He wasn't "just a corrupt official" before and didn't become a bloody maniac later on, he's always been like that. Think of Ryazan sugar and the second Chechnya, the Kursk nuclear submarine, Beslan. Putin didn't care about the lives of people and entire countries. So, we are not witnessing an evolution of his views, but a change in external circumstances that allowed him to no longer hold back. As long as Ukraine looked like an unattainable dream, Putin was polite. When he got a chance to conquer it in whole or in part, his teeth bared. In the era of the pandemic and the great war, the masks were finally thrown off. Now that he is already up to his elbows in blood, there is no point in hiding his true views, inherited from his time in the KGB.

"The worst part is that most Russians share Putin's belief in the non-existence of Ukrainians. If in their minds we were a truly alien people, they would forgive us for our existence and our desire for independence"

The problem here is not in Putin's numerous historical mistakes and logical fallacies, who does not prove the thesis "Ukrainians and Russians are one people" with historical arguments, but views the past through the prism of this thesis. The vicious circle, i.e., using as evidence what is precisely what needs to be proved, is not the worst thing. The worst part is that most Russians share Putin's belief in the non-existence of Ukrainians. If in their minds we were a truly alien people, they would forgive us for our existence and our desire for independence. But having seen ourselves in us, they treated our state-building as the splitting up of a large communal apartment into small separate apartments. They sincerely do not understand why we are fencing ourselves off because "Russians and Ukrainians lived well!"

So, the only way to permanently divert Russian attention from Ukrainians is to switch it to discussing another issue. For example, are Siberian Russians?

Let them figure it out.

Source.

About the author: Sergiy Gromenko, journalist, security expert

The editors do not always share the opinions expressed by the authors of the blogs.