Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov on his Twitter page stated that Ukraine, which became one of the republics of the USSR in 1922, did not include Kharkov, Kherson, Odessa, Donetsk, Lugansk, Crimea and Lvov.
The politician recalled that "Ukraine received all these lands, being part of the Soviet Union, and completely free of charge."
“And the newly-made so-called patriots only learned that they squander these lands, and even at the cost of tens of thousands of human lives,” he said.
Since 2014, Ukraine has been actively pursuing the so-called policy of decommunization, according to which the country's authorities liquidate the legacy of the Soviet period of history. In particular, the symbols of the Communist Party are banned in Ukraine, Soviet monuments are subject to demolition, the names of streets and settlements are changing.
In particular, the Institute of National Memory of Ukraine published a list that included 520 historical figures whose activities fall under the law of decommunization, and therefore their names should disappear from geographical names. Among them, for example, Leonid Brezhnev, Semyon Budyonny, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, George Zhukov, Nadezhda Krupskaya, Vladimir Lenin, Sergo Ordzhonikidze, Mikhail Frunze.
In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with TASS said that the separation of Russia and Ukraine is beneficial to those who are afraid of the unification of the two countries, in which case they would become a global competitor both in Europe and in the rest of the world.
Putin added that historically Russia and Ukraine had much in common and even the “founding fathers” of Ukrainian nationalism wrote in the works of the 19th century that Kiev needed good relations with Moscow.
“Because any unification of Russia and Ukraine, their capabilities and competitive advantages is the creation of competitors, a global competitor. In Europe and in the world. Nobody wants this. Therefore, they will do everything to pull us away, ”the Russian leader confirmed.
- President of Russia Vladimir Putin
- RIA News
- © Alexey Nikolsky
In 2019, during a press conference in Moscow, Putin recalled that during the creation of the USSR, “original Russian territories” were annexed to Ukraine.
“The entire Black Sea region, the western lands of Russia were transferred to Ukraine with a strange formulation - to increase the percentage of the proletariat in Ukraine,” he emphasized.
The Russian leader explained that this step was due to the fact that it was a rural territory where petty-bourgeois representatives lived.
“This is a somewhat strange decision, but it has taken place. This is all the legacy of the state building of Vladimir Lenin. Now we are dealing with this, ”Putin added.
The First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Konstantin Zatulin, in a conversation with RT, also noted that the territories of Donbass were annexed to Ukraine at the end of the civil war to strengthen the proletarian layer in the ranks of the Ukrainian Bolshevik party. He also indicated that during the civil war, the Kryvyi Rih Republic existed, separate from Ukraine.
“That is, it is an absolutely foreign body in Ukraine. But, when Ukraine received the Donbass, it naturally felt that it had always been so. And now he thinks so. All that Ukraine now consists of is acquisitions during its existence, first in the Russian Empire and then in the USSR, ”he explained.
“In 1654, Ukraine entered the Kingdom of Moscow with five territories, and withdrew from the Soviet Union with a territory five times larger than that. This pathos with which Ukraine demands its original territory is very false, ”the deputy pointed out.
He noted that decommunization did not actually begin in Ukraine in 2014, "this is the course Ukraine has been following since 1991."
In turn, the ex-deputy of the City Council of Odessa, historian and publicist Alexander Vasilyev, said that at the time of the creation of the Soviet Union, Ukraine already de facto owned the majority of the listed lands, however, they were recognized as Ukrainian by the Soviet government.
“There is nothing strange here. Because when you received an inheritance for which you do not have rights, it is best for you to pretend that this is not an inheritance at all, but some kind of compensation. The Ukrainians inherited a country within its borders from the Bolsheviks, and now they are trying in every possible way to pretend that the Bolsheviks have nothing to do with it. If we recall that the Soviet period in history was quite short, the Russian State existed before it, then we will see that the listed lands were part of Russia. This region was called Novorossia, that is, New Russia, and before the Soviet regime, there were no claims to the belonging of this territory to Ukraine, ”he said.
Recall that at present, the main territorial claim of Ukraine is the Crimea. The peninsula returned to Russia in 2014 as a result of a referendum, the results of which the Ukrainian side refuses to recognize. More than 96% of the inhabitants of the peninsula who took part in the plebiscite voted for reunification with the Russian Federation.
In March, Vladimir Putin, speaking during a meeting with representatives of the public of Crimea and Sevastopol, called ridiculous attempts to cast doubt on the will of Crimeans.
“This is a fair and, as life has shown, long-awaited event for both Crimeans and our entire country, people then made an informed choice, and so vivid that attempts to cast doubt on it simply cause a dumbfirst, and then a grin,” he stressed .
In addition, Putin called the unsuccessful actions of other countries that "seek to create problems for the residents of the region."