Putin and Ukraine

It seems that Vladimir Putin has lost his mind.

He claims that the goal of this unprovoked invasion is the “demilitarization and

” of Ukraine when he is behaving as a kind of distorted reflection of Hitler.

More information

Russia attacks Ukraine

Their entire justification for this invasion is completely incoherent.

He is someone who gleefully declared that the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century was the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and yet at the same time blames Lenin for allowing the idea of ​​self-determination to take root in 1917, allowing that very breakup. in 1991.

In his incoherent address to the nation, his version of Ukraine's history is completely distorted.

He talks about the genocide against the Russians in eastern Ukraine, a ridiculous set-up that no one believes, but he never mentions the Holodomor, the true genocidal famine launched by Stalin in 1932 against the Ukraine that caused four and a half million deaths.

All he concedes is some "mistakes made in different periods of time."

Putin tries to convince himself that an independent Ukrainian identity is wholly artificial for

-nationalist reasons because Ukraine is part of the "same historical and spiritual space" as Russia.

They are a "unique people," he declares.

Which implies that no population has the right to follow its own path.

He is living in a crazy fantasy world of Russia's imperial past when he declares that "a hostile anti-Russia is being created in our historical lands" and yet he is following the Stalinist policies of the last century.

"We do not intend to occupy Ukraine," he says.

This means that he intends to install his own puppet government there.

One can be sure that the Russian special forces and military intelligence (GRU) have lists of the Ukrainians they want to eliminate in one way or another so that the country can become a satellite state, just as the Central European states were. in 1945.

Antony Beevor is a military historian, author of 'Stalingrad' (Critique)

Follow all the international information on

Exclusive content for subscribers

read without limits

subscribe

I'm already a subscriber