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58-617: Russian troops currently occupy parts of three neighbouring countries: southern and eastern Ukraine , Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia , and the Transnistria region of Moldova . Since it began in 2014, the Russo-Ukrainian War has been described by much of the international community as being a culmination of Russia's irredentist policies towards Ukraine. Examples of these irredentist policies being implemented in this conflict include

116-627: A triune Russian nation . He maintained that large parts of Ukraine are historical Russian lands and claimed there is "no historical basis" for the "idea of Ukrainian people as a nation separate from the Russians". On 21 February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Russian-controlled territories of Ukraine as independent states—the Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics"—as well as their irredentist claims to

174-640: A war against an independent Ukrainian state and then replaced it with a puppet state called the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic . What Lenin really created was the Russian Federation , a state that received its constitution in 1918 and became part of the USSR four years later . In 1991, Yeltsin removed this entity created by Lenin from the USSR, thereby contributing to the collapse of

232-553: A " special military operation " on 24 February, making it illegal to refer to the biggest European conflict since WWII as a "war" in Russia. As of October 2022 , Russia occupies parts of Donetsk Oblast , Kharkiv Oblast , Kherson Oblast , Luhansk Oblast , Mykolaiv Oblast , Zaporizhzhia Oblast , and all of the Crimean peninsula with its armed forces, its mercenary groups like Wagner , Chechen Kadyrovites , and Russian-led separatists of

290-535: A deputy of Romania, also replied to Putin's essay, declaring that Bessarabia was not occupied but "reattached" and "reincorporated" following "democratic processes and historical realities". Muraru also commented on Northern Bukovina. A report by 35 legal and genocide experts cited Putin's essay as part of "laying the groundwork for incitement to genocide: denying the existence of the Ukrainian group". In his 2022 Yale lecture, Timothy Snyder argues that Putin's essay

348-616: A former Russian imperial territory that covered much of southern Ukraine. Russian-backed forces then announced plans for a new Novorossiya , to incorporate all of eastern and southern Ukraine. A 2015 survey by the Pew Research Center found that "61 percent of Russians believe parts of neighboring countries really belong to Russia". In his 2021 essay " On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians ", Putin referred to Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians as "one people" making up

406-469: A part of Russia, even if Ukrainians are against it". The article was also almost simultaneously published in German in journal Osteuropa under the title Über die historische Einheit der Russen und der Ukrainer . (Vladimir Putin is fully fluent in written and spoken German). Volodymyr Zelenskyy , the president of Ukraine , criticized the essay on 13 July, comparing Putin's view on the brotherhood between

464-651: A possible annexation of the state by Russia . After the Russian military invasion that resulted in Ukrainian control over the Crimean peninsula and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts being lost , the situation regarding the Crimean peninsula is more complex since Russia annexed the territory in March 2014 and now administers it as two federal subjects - the Republic of Crimea and

522-525: A relatively short period is perhaps the [worst] in recent decades which, combined with the irredentist aims of the conquest, makes Russia's war on Ukraine particularly reprehensible in the eyes of the international community." U.S. news publication The Washington Post has stated that the Russian government could start a chain reaction of irredentist mass violence, which then "could break the international order ". Russian-occupied territories Since

580-644: A speech that Russia had annexed the four regions . The annexations were declared illegal by the UN. On 12 October 2022, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution ES-11/4 advocating for territorial integrity of Ukraine, with 143 nations voting in favor, 5 against and 35 abstaining. It condemned the "illegal so-called referendums" and the "attempted illegal annexation" and demanded that Russia immediately reverse its decisions and withdraw its forces from Ukraine. Dmitry Medvedev , deputy chairman of

638-578: Is in Russian law. The term is applied to Georgia (in Abkhazia and South Ossetia ), Moldova (in Transnistria ), and Ukraine (in Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia ). Additionally, Russia and Japan have been involved in the Kuril Islands dispute due to Russia's 1991 inheritance of control over the four southernmost Kuril Islands , which Japan has claimed ownership of since 1945. Following

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696-532: Is its internationally recognized land. Following the end of the war, Transnistria has made several requests for becoming a part of Russia . After the Russo-Georgian War , President Medvedev signed decrees on 26 August 2008 recognising the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as sovereign states. Russia established diplomatic relations with these partially recognised states and placed Russian troops in both. Russian security forces were deployed along

754-783: The Atlantic Council sees these comments as proof that Putin "is waging an old-fashioned imperial war of conquest". On 8 June 2022, a draft bill was submitted to Russia's State Duma by a member of the ruling United Russia party proposing to repeal the Decree of the State Council of the Soviet Union "On the Recognition of the Independence of the Republic of Lithuania". On 6 July, the speaker of

812-498: The Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine , which saw the Russian annexation of southeastern Ukraine in 2022. Specifically looking at the viewpoints of post-Soviet Russian leader Vladimir Putin , Erdi Ozturk, a professor at London Metropolitan University , has commented that irredentist ideology relies upon a "distinction between civilizations by synthesizing nationalism with nostalgic visions of history, memory, and religion." From roughly

870-463: The Russo-Ukrainian War , maintaining that "Kiev simply does not need Donbas ". Putin places blame for the current crisis on foreign plots and anti-Russian conspiracies. According to Putin, the decisions of the Ukrainian government are driven by a Western plot against Russia as well as by "followers of Bandera ". Putin ends the lengthy essay by asserting Russia's role in modern Ukrainian affairs. According to an April 2023 investigative report by

928-489: The Security Council of Russia and former Russian president, said that Ukraine should not exist in any form and that Russia will continue to wage war against any independent Ukrainian state. He commented that Putin outlined "why Ukraine did not exist, does not exist, and will not exist". In a March 2024 speech, Medvedev described Ukraine as part of Russia, and spoke in front of a large map showing Russia in control of most of

986-684: The Soviet Union following the Kuril Islands landing operation at the end of World War II (WWII). The disputed islands are under Russian administration as the South Kuril District of the Sakhalin Oblast (Сахалинская область, Sakhalinskaya oblast ). They are claimed by Japan, which refers to them as its Northern Territories or Southern Chishima, and considers them part of the Nemuro Subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture . Japan and

1044-571: The Transnistria War in 1992, which following the bloody 1992 battle of Bender resulted in victory of the separatists, who had earlier declared the independence of Transnistria , following a Russian military intervention in Transnistria which is still present today in the area and which still defends the Transnistrian regime today despite Moldovan requests to withdraw from what still legally

1102-499: The annexation of Crimea in 2014 proves Russia remains an expansionist state. Vladimir Putin 's speech on the Crimea annexation was described by analyst Vladimir Socor as a "manifesto of Greater-Russia irredentism". Putin said that the dissolution of the Soviet Union had "robbed" Russia of territories and made Russians "the biggest ethnic group in the world to be divided by borders", calling this an "outrageous historical injustice". After

1160-499: The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has been involved in territorial disputes with a number of other post-Soviet states . These disputes are primarily an aspect of the post-Soviet conflicts , and have led to some countries losing parts of their sovereign territory to what a large portion of the international community designates as a Russian military occupation . As such, these lands are commonly described as Russian-occupied territories , regardless of what their status

1218-519: The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 21 December 1991, many Moldovans all over the former Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic started demanding unification with Romania , that " Moldovan " (which was asked to be referred to as Romanian ) be written in the Latin alphabet and not in the Cyrillic one and that it become the only official language of Moldova, which was subsequently approved in March 2023. This

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1276-492: The triune Russian nation . To support the claim, he describes in length his views on the history of Russia and Ukraine, concluding that Russians and Ukrainians share a common heritage and destiny. Noting the large number of ethnic Russians in Ukraine , Putin compares "the formation of an ethnically pure Ukrainian state, aggressive towards Russia" to a use of weapons of mass destruction against Russians. Putin openly questions

1334-559: The "occupied" South Kuril Islands. Ukraine, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, also recognizes the four southern-most Kuril islands as Japanese territory occupied by Russia. Russia maintains that all the Kuril Islands, including those that Japan calls the Northern Territories, are legally a part of Russia as a result of World War II, and the acquisition was as proper as any other change of international boundaries following

1392-646: The 'one people' ... have been refuted in Donbas battlefields ". According to the Institute of History of Ukraine , the essay represents the historical views of the Russian Empire . The Ukrainian World Congress compares Putin's view of Ukraine "as a non-nation" to that of Joseph Stalin under whose watch at least five million Ukrainians perished during the Holodomor . The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace called

1450-620: The 16th century to the 20th century, the Russian Empire followed an expansionist policy. Few of these actions had irredentist justifications, though the conquest of parts of the Ottoman Empire in the Caucasus in 1877 to bring Armenian Christians under the protection of the Tsar may represent one example. Russia has also had an enduring interest in Constantinople (Istanbul), which was envisioned as

1508-563: The DPR and LPR. The invasion is sometimes seen as part of contemporary Russian imperialism . In September, the Ukrainian army recaptured almost all of Kharkiv Oblast. Russia held annexation referendums in occupied territories of Ukraine from 23 September to 27 September. On 30 September, Putin signed treaties with the Russian-appointed heads of the DPR, LPR, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions to be integrated into Russia, and their annexation

1566-534: The Donetsk People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic, Zaporizhzhia region and Kherson region . The Russian occupation authorities announced that all regions had overwhelmingly voted in favor of joining Russia and that there had been a high turnout despite the ongoing war and depopulation. It was widely dismissed as a sham referendum by Ukraine and many other countries. On 30 September, Putin announced in

1624-561: The Georgian parliament's foreign affairs committee asked the legislative bodies of 31 countries to declare Abkhazia and South Ossetia as territories under Russian occupation and to recognize the massive displacement of civilians from those regions by Russia as amounting to ethnic cleansing. The Russian Foreign Ministry retaliated, asking Georgia to abolish the law. Meanwhile, the United Nations General Assembly annually condemned

1682-615: The Russian leadership has a distorted view of modern Ukraine and its history. In Romania , a part of the essay caused outrage. The fragment in question describes how, in 1918, the Kingdom of Romania had "occupied" (and not united with) the geographical region of Bessarabia , part of which is now in Ukraine. Romanian media outlets such as Adevărul and Digi24 commented on Putin's statements and criticized them. Remarks were also made regarding Northern Bukovina , another former Romanian territory now part of Ukraine. Alexandru Muraru , then

1740-535: The Russian website Vertska , one draft of the essay included a direct threat of military action against Ukraine, although it was removed from the final version. A few days later, the Kremlin website published an interview with Putin about the article. Several months later, Dmitry Medvedev , the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia , also published an article on Ukraine in the Russian daily Kommersant . In it, he agrees with Putin's essay, and declares that there will be no negotiations with Ukraine until

1798-664: The State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin , threatened to "claim back" Alaska if the US froze or seized Russian assets. Previously, another member of the State Duma, Oleg Matveychev , had demanded in response to sanctions that the US return Alaska, in addition to Fort Ross, California (which was historically a Russian colony). Matveychev also demanded the recognition of Antarctica as part of Russia, which in total would almost double Russia's territory. In September 2022, referendums on joining Russia were held in four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine:

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1856-565: The US maintain that until a WWII peace treaty between Japan and Russia is concluded, the disputed Northern Territories remain occupied territory under Russian control via General Order No. 1 . The European Parliament , in the resolution "Relations between EU , the Chinese Republic and the People's Republic and Security in the Far East", adopted on July 7, 2005, called on Russia to return to Japan

1914-404: The Ukrainian government is replaced. The article, endorsed by the Kremlin, was criticized for its denigrating and antisemitic tone. Vladislav Surkov , the personal adviser (2013–2020) of Putin, also published an article concerning Ukraine and other ex-USSR territories on the website Aktualnye Kommentarii . In the article, he questions the legitimacy of the western border of Russia (including

1972-536: The Union . Lenin was the creator of modern Russia, not Ukraine, and should be considered as such. Plokhiy recalled that Lenin invaded Ukraine and then took away even formal independence from Ukraine by integrating it into the Soviet Union in 1922. The article "The Advance of Russia and of a New World" by Petr Akopov was briefly published in several Russian state news sites on 26 February 2022, two days after Russian forces openly invaded Ukrainian-controlled territory, but

2030-517: The annexation, the Transnistrian authorities requested Russia annex Transnistria . Following the Crimea annexation, armed Russian-backed separatists seized towns in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, sparking the Donbas War . They declared their captured territory to be the Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics". During this unrest, Putin began referring to " Novorossiya " (New Russia),

2088-576: The article openly accused the entire Ukrainian nation of being Nazis who must be wiped out and in some cases re-educated. On 29 March 2022, Rossiyskaya Gazeta , the official government gazette of the Russian government, published an article that claims that European elites support the Ukrainian Nazis because of their bitterness over the loss in the Second World War . The article quotes Ukrainian priest Vasiliy Zenkovskiy, "Ukraine must become

2146-613: The borders with Ukraine and the Baltic states ), claiming that it was born out of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk , arguing that Russia should abolish the "wicked peace" that keeps it confined by the borders. In a speech on 21 February 2022 , following the escalation in the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis , Putin said that "modern Ukraine was wholly and fully created by Bolshevik, communist Russia". Sarah Rainsford wrote in BBC News that Putin's speech

2204-547: The breakaway region of Transnistria. South Ossetian President Anatoly Bibilov announced his intention to begin the process of annexation by the Russian Federation . Four months into the invasion of Ukraine, Putin compared himself to Russian emperor Peter the Great . He claimed that Tsar Peter had returned "Russian land" to the empire, adding "it is now also our responsibility to return (Russian) land". Peter Dickinson of

2262-488: The centre of Russian power. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, it was thought that the Russian Federation had given up on plans of territorial expansion or kin-state nationalism, despite some 25 million ethnic Russians living in neighboring countries outside Russia. Stephen M. Saideman and R. William Ayres assert that Russia followed a non-irredentist policy in the 1990s despite some justifications for irredentist policies—one factor disfavoring irredentism

2320-577: The country, with western Ukraine partitioned between other countries, and Ukraine confined to a rump state consisting of the city of Kyiv and the Kyiv Oblast . Some Russian nationalists seek to annex parts of the " near abroad ", such as the Baltic states . Governor of the Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast Yevgeny Balitsky has described how "all of the Baltics" were "all our lands, and our people live there," calling to "correct this...through

2378-566: The date of "the beginning of the temporary occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia", with 7% of Ukraine's territory under occupation . In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine after recognizing the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic as independent states. Russian president Putin ordered Russian forces to "perform peacekeeping functions" in Ukraine on 22 February, and then to begin

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2436-495: The demarcation lines with Georgia. Many international journalists and media companies, such as Al Jazeera, BBC and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, as well as non-governmental organizations, have referred to Abkhazia and South Ossetia as Russian-occupied territories. The Georgian parliament unanimously passed a resolution on 28 August 2008 formally declaring Abkhazia and South Ossetia as Russian-occupied territories and Russian troops as occupying forces. The law forbids entry into

2494-530: The essay a "historical, political, and security predicate for invading [Ukraine]". The Stockholm Free World Forum senior fellow Anders Åslund branded the essay as "one step short of a declaration of war." According to Foreign Policy , the essay is a "key guide to the historical stories that shape Putin's and many Russian's attitudes". Historian Timothy Snyder has described Putin's ideas as imperialism . British journalist Edward Lucas described it as historical revisionism . Other observers have noted that

2552-418: The essay, Putin describes his views on Ukraine and Ukrainians . According to RBK Daily , the essay is included in the list of mandatory works to be studied by the Russian military . In 2021, the essay was also published as a book with no author indicated. In the essay, Putin argues that Russians and Ukrainians , along with Belarusians , are one people, belonging to what has historically been known as

2610-496: The federal city of Sevastopol . Ukraine continues to claim Crimea as an integral part of its territory, supported by most foreign governments and United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262 , although Russia and some other UN member states recognize Crimea as part of the Russian Federation or have expressed support for the 2014 Crimean status referendum . In 2015, the Ukrainian parliament officially set 20 February 2014 as

2668-499: The forced demographic changes taking place in both regions as result of the displacement and the refusal of the right of return of Internally displaced persons (in practical terms, ethnic Georgians). In 2022 95 UN members supported the resolution, with 12 against and 56 abstentions. It noted in a 2022 report, acknowledged with the same resolution, the Russian enforcement of the de facto border which violates "freedom of movement" principles. South Ossetia has also discussed several times

2726-423: The legitimacy of Ukraine's contemporary borders. According to Putin, the modern-day Ukraine occupies historically Russian lands, and is an "anti-Russia project" created by external forces since the seventeenth century, and of administrative and political decisions made during the Soviet Union (a BBC article traced the term "anti-Russia project" to some Russian conspiratorial writing of 2011–13). He also discusses

2784-488: The might of Russian weapons" and "get our people back, the former subjects of the Russian Empire ". Others also some fear potential escalation due to Russian irredentist aspirations in Northern Kazakhstan . Looking at the Russian efforts as a whole, the news network Al Jazeera has quoted University of San Francisco scholar Stephen Zunes as remarking, "The level of physical devastation and casualties thus far over

2842-413: The nations with the story of Cain and Abel . Former president Petro Poroshenko also sharply criticized the essay, describing it as a counterpart of Hitler's Sudetenland speech . Former president of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves similarly likened it to Hitler's 1938 rhetoric justifying the partition of Czechoslovakia . Ukraine's envoy to United Nations Sergiy Kyslytsya commented, "fables about

2900-528: The norm since World War II that sees territorial conquest as unacceptable. Parallels were made between Putin's irredentism during the Ukrainian War and Slobodan Milosevic 's irredentism during the Bosnian War . On 1 March 2022, images emerged in the press showing Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in front of a map which appeared to show invasion plans for Moldova where Russia already has soldiers in

2958-628: The regions from Russia and subjects violators to a fine or imprisonment. Abkhazia may only be entered from Zugdidi Municipality , via the Enguri Bridge . South Ossetia, however, does not allow entry of foreigners from Georgian-controlled territory. The crossing points into South Ossetia have been effectively closed for locals as well since September 2019, while a special permit regime is in place by South Ossetian de facto authorities for two crossing points: Akhalgori - Odzisi ( Mtskheta Municipality ) and Karzmani ( Sachkhere Municipality ). In April 2010,

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3016-464: The war. On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians is an essay by Russian president Vladimir Putin published in Russian on Kremlin.ru website 12 July 2021. The essay was published on shortly after the end of the first of two buildups of Russian forces preceding the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In

3074-467: The wider Donbas region of Ukraine. The following day, Russia announced that it was sending troops into these territories. On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full invasion of Ukraine . In announcing the invasion, Putin repeatedly denied Ukraine's right to exist , calling the country "an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space", and claiming that it was created by Russia. It has been referred to as an irredentist war, going against

3132-503: Was "rewriting Ukraine's history", and that his focus on the country was "obsessive". Vitaly Chervonenko from the BBC noted how carefully Putin kept silent about the independent Ukrainian state formations of 1917–1920 and Kyiv's war with Lenin's Bolshevik government , whose purpose was to include Ukraine in Bolshevik Russia . Of course, Lenin did not create Ukraine. In 1918, he started

3190-482: Was a focus by the ruling interest in consolidating power and the economy within the territory of Russia. Furthermore, a stable policy of irredentism popular with the electorate was not found, and politicians proposing such ideas did not fare well electorally. Russian nationalist politicians tended to focus on internal threats (i.e. "outsiders") rather than on the interests of Russians outside the federation. "Russia's border doesn't end anywhere". It has been proposed that

3248-566: Was approved by the Russian constitutional court and ratified by the Russian Federation Council, although the newly claimed borders of the Russian Federation are yet to be determined. The Kuril Islands dispute is a territorial dispute between Japan and the Russian Federation over the ownership of the four southernmost Kuril Islands . The four disputed islands, like other islands in the Kuril chain that are not in dispute, were annexed by

3306-586: Was not well received in modern Gagauzia , an ethnically Turkic region in Moldova, and in most of the left bank of the Dniester river. Here, Russian -speakers who formed the majority in the region advocated Russian be kept as the official language of Moldova alongside Moldovan (which was still to be written in Cyrillic and not to be referred to as Romanian), and that Moldova not unify with Romania . Differences erupted into

3364-606: Was soon deleted. Its original publication on RIA Novosti at precisely 8:00 a.m. suggests it may have been automatically published by mistake. The article celebrates the "gathering the Russian world, the Russian people together—in its entirety of Great Russians, Belarusians and Little Russians ", and Vladimir Putin's historic responsibility for "resolution of the Ukrainian question". The same state-owned RIA Novosti published another article in April 2022, this time without any backtracking. Titled " What Russia Should Do with Ukraine ",

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