While the Ukraine crisis is tactically important for the NATO members, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that it is of existential significance for Russia.
In an interview earlier this month with American journalist Tucker Carlson, Putin clarified that the main objective of his extensive research into the nation's past was to allow the Western audience to understand Moscow's perspective on this matter.
Furthermore, according to Putin, it is not easy for western viewers to comprehend every aspect of Russia's 1,000-year history, given that the United States has only been a nation for 300 years.
On the other hand, the president expressed his opinion that western viewers must realize "what we are thinking to understand how sensitive and important this [Ukraine] issue is for our country.”
He further said that for western powers, it was just a matter of tactical importance, but for him as a country head, it is a matter of life and death. In a two-hour interview that has received about 10 million views, Putin talks widely on the origins of the governments of Russia and Ukraine.
He further claimed that despite strong Polish influence on the present day Ukraine, still many in the region desired to join Russia due to shared borders and cultural grounds. According to him, Ukraine was formed by Soviet authorities after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
He also stated that after the Second World War, Ukraine had received a lot of territory from its neighbours, making it an “artificial state,”
The war between Russia and Ukraine started in February 2022 when the Russian forces invaded the Ukrainian region of Donbas.
