Why Does Putin Insist Ukrainians And Russians Are 'One People'?

2025-04-18 08:11:35

(MENAFN- Asia Times) Russian president Vladimir Putin does not seem interested in peace: Sunday's missile strike on Sumy, the worst civilian attack this year, proves he is determined to expand into Ukraine at any cost.

This is a war of ideas, narratives and myths – one that can be traced to the mid-16th century, when Ivan the Terrible, Grand Duke of Muscovy declared himself the first“tsar” of all Russia.

As part of his quest for power, Ivan the Terrible challenged King Sigismund I of Poland , who, as Duke of Rus , ruled over territories that now comprise parts of modern-day Ukraine.

Russian rulers have often repurposed history to build their power, according to historian Orlando Figes . Putin wrote a well known essay in 2021 that called Russians and Ukrainians“one people.” He was relying on old beliefs that Russia has the right to“restore” or reunite lands it once ruled.

Ukraine has survived bans on its language, forced-assimilation policies, and famines such as the Holodomor , orchestrated by Stalin in the 1930s. The country declared independence from Russia in 1991 . Now, teachers, artists and local leaders have joined soldiers in resisting Russia.

Empire and a holy mission

A broad expanse of the former medieval kingdom of Kyivan Rus incorporated territories in present-day Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, including Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. From 1386 until 1772, the majority of those lands came under the rule of Poland-Lithuania, governed by the Lithuanian Jagiellon dynasty, and their successors.

Today, Russia often points to Kyivan Rus (which lasted from the 9th to the 13th century), claiming it is reuniting those ancient lands, as Ivan the Terrible claimed almost five centuries ago.

Grand Duchy of Lithuania, ruled by the Jagiellon dynasty in the 13th to 15th centuries. Map: Wikipedia , CC BY

In 1547, Ivan declared Muscovy a tsardom and dubbed Moscow the“Third Rome” – in other words, the latest center of true Christianity, after Rome and Constantinople. This idea made conquest seem like a holy mission. By the late 18th century, the Russian Empire had destroyed Poland-Lithuania in a series of territorial annexations and wars. It had spread far to the south and east, and now bordered with Prussia and Austria.

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