In recent months, President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of the Russian Federation has been repeatedly making claims regarding Ukraine’s lack of legitimacy as a sovereign state. In July 2021, the President wrote an article, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” making claims that Ukrainians and Russians, as well as Belarusians, are one historical people. President Putin has been pushing this narrative as part of his justification for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, part of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The President has also made claims that Ukraine is being run by “neo-Nazis,” fascists, and drug addicts, and has said on numerous occasions that the Ukrainian government orchestrates genocide against Russian-speaking people in Ukraine. In addition, the Russian Federation became the first (and only) United Nations nation to recognize the separatist Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic, in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, as independent and sovereign states. Under the pretext of “peacekeeping,” and later, helping protect these “people’s republics” from the supposedly tyrannical regime in Kiev, the Russian President sent his troops into Donbas. This move was an act of war upon Ukraine. After some speeches, in which he repeatedly stated that Ukraine in its current state was created by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks and that if Ukraine wants decommunization, Russia is prepared to show them what full decommunization is (a thinly veiled threat to Kiev), Putin began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine from the North (Belarus), East (Russia), and South (Crimea, illegitimately annexed from Ukraine into Russia in 2014).
While President Putin’s claims that the Ukrainian and Russian peoples are one people have historical reasoning and are agreed with by many people in each respective country, they alone cannot justify such an invasion of Ukraine. The Russian President’s claims that neo-Nazis run Ukraine is simply false, especially considering that the President of Ukraine is Jewish. Let us not believe Putin’s blatant lie. The actions of the Russian President have imperialist motives, regardless of what he may claim. President Putin’s nostalgia for the Soviet Empire has attracted many older voters in the Russian Federation to him, but also can help to explain his actions today.
The Russian President is interested in regaining Soviet-era glory of Russia. He wants to rebuild the Soviet Empire to the best of his ability. This is a difficult task. The Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) have joined NATO, so an invasion of them is impossible without beginning World War III. Ukraine, on the other hand, despite trying to join NATO, has not been able to, making an invasion for Putin much easier and less risky. The Russian President already has the Republic of Belarus in his sphere of influence, with (illegitimate) President Alexander Lukashenko bending to Putin’s every desire. Members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (Republic of Armenia, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Republic of Tajikistan, and Republic of Uzbekistan), a union formed as the Soviet Union was collapsing, are all in Russia’s sphere of influence. Putin wants to rebuild the Soviet Union not as a communist, but as an imperialist.
Throughout the last few days, we have seen the brutality of the war waged against Ukraine by President Putin. We have seen the ugly consequences for both countries. However, the Russian President refuses to give in. When Russians took to the streets to protest the war, he had thousands of them arrested. When the West announced multiple waves of sanctions, he either ignored them or retaliated (such as after Aeroflot was banned from flying over British airspace, Virgin Atlantic was banned from flying over Russian airspace). These “crippling” sanctions are not enough to deter a president that has lost touch with reality. The rest of the world, and especially the West, needs to send a reminder to the Russian Government that such imperialism, creating the largest war in Europe since World War II, cannot be tolerated. Ukraine must be allowed to join NATO and the West must deploy its massive military in Ukraine, not for attacking Russians, but for defending Ukrainians. The Ukrainian people are suffering massively.
Schools have been shelled by Russia. Are these little children also “neo-Nazis” or NATO soldiers? Are they also tools of the West? Do they also deserve to be killed, even after the Russian Government promised not to harm civilians and to only attack Ukrainian military targets? Enough is enough. President Putin said he had “red lines” when it came to Ukraine. The West must also have red lines. Such red lines were crossed when Putin declared the people’s republics in eastern Ukraine to be independent states. Such red lines were crossed when Putin sent his troops into eastern Ukraine for “peacekeeping.” Such red lines were especially crossed when Putin initiated a war, for no legitimate reason, against Ukraine, with the goal of toppling Ukraine’s democratically elected government, something Putin could stand to learn from as the president of a country that is far from democratic.
The Russian President witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Empire while working as a KGB agent. He spent a considerable amount of time in East Germany, a Soviet satellite state, and likely experienced some sort of trauma, witnessing the collapse of his country. However, this does not make it acceptable for him to go back and declare eastern Europe and central Asia to be his, once again. Great Britain cannot go to the Republic of India and claim that since it was British land at one point, they can just take it back. The United States cannot go to the Philippines and claim that since it was American land at one point, they can just take it back. The Kingdom of Spain cannot go back to the Republic of Cuba and claim that since it was Spanish land at one point, they can just take it back. Putin’s actions do not belong in the 21st century. The Russian Government must learn to accept that their historical land is independent and if they want this land back, they must make agreements with the governments of those lands, instead of militarily forcing them to bend to Russia’s will.
President Putin’s actions can be compared to Adolf Hitler’s leading up to and during World War II. On numerous occasions, he has claimed that he is trying to restore the glory of the Soviet Union to the Russian Federation after the West humiliated it, following the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. His rhetoric strikes a similar tone to Hitler claiming that he is trying to restore the glory of Germany after it was humiliated by the Allies with the Treaty of Versailles. President Putin’s actions will lead (and already have led) to the loss of many innocent lives. Many Ukrainian and Russian troops are dead. Many Ukrainian civilians have been killed. This is the largest conflict Europe has experienced since World War II. Let us put an end to it.
Let us choose peace, for the benefit of all people and the world. There is no reason why both Ukraine and the Russian Federation cannot prosper, not as enemies, but as allies. These peoples, who, according to President Putin, are the same, should not be fighting. Why can they not treat each other well? Russians and Ukrainians like each other. They are each other’s comrades, family, friends, and colleagues. If the Government of the Russian Federation wants to act as an aggressor and bully its friendly and democratic neighbor to distract from issues at home, the Russian people, and the rest of the world, must rise to the occasion and democratically elect new and worthy leadership in Moscow.
In conclusion, regardless of what historical arguments can or cannot be made regarding Ukraine’s legitimacy as a sovereign country, regardless of what historical arguments can or cannot be made regarding President Putin’s similarity to Adolf Hitler, regardless of what success or failure may await Russia as Ukraine’s strength is put to the ultimate test, peace must prevail over war. The Ukrainian people want peace, the Russian people want peace, the West wants peace, and the East wants peace. The world wants peace. The world is watching the actions of President Putin. He has already put himself on the wrong side of history, but he can still turn around and save countless Russian and Ukrainian lives. Let us go down the right path and let us choose peace over war.
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