In fact, Vladimir Putin admitted to waging a war of conquest in Ukraine and placed himself in the tradition of Tsar Peter the Great (1672-1725).

According to the Kremlin, Russia's president spoke at a meeting with "young entrepreneurs, engineers and researchers," who will attend the International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg next week.

The meeting took place in a symbolic place, on the VDNKh compound in northern Moscow;

the "Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy" presented in Soviet times in an idealized form what individual sectors and Soviet republics such as the Ukrainian allegedly achieved.

The site is now a popular destination, attracting visitors with a large aquarium and temporary exhibitions, among other things.

Frederick Smith

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

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Putin said at the beginning of the meeting that we live "in an era of change" and "geopolitical, scientific, technological information".

It became clear that the President is not concerned with participatory cooperation and exchange for mutual benefit, but with "leadership".

In order to claim this, every country must "guarantee its sovereignty," said Putin.

There are no nuances, "either a country is sovereign or a colony".

Russia has known times "when you had to retreat, but only to gather strength and advance".

Putin said that "external security" can only be achieved through "technological sovereignty", citing "supersonic weapons" as an example, where he currently sees an advantage over his American opponents, and praising Russia's defense industry.

"Taken nothing, brought back!"

In this mood, Putin turned to Peter the Great, because he had just visited an exhibition on the VDNKh grounds dedicated to the "birth of the empire" under the tsar, who was born 350 years ago.

"Almost nothing" has changed since then, according to Putin, "astonishing!".

Then he turned to the Great Northern War for supremacy in the Baltic region, which lasted from 1700 to 1721.

At that time, Russia was able to conquer important areas in Finland and the Baltic States, among other things, and gain naval supremacy in the Baltic Sea region;

Peter had Saint Petersburg founded during the war and officially changed his title from "Tsar" to "Imperator".

Last year, Putin caused a stir because, in a conversation with students, he confused the Great Northern War with the Seven Years' War (1756 to 1763) and one of the students pointed this out.

Now the President particularly emphasized that Peter the Great had "fought the Great Northern War for 21 years".

Peter “didn’t take anything away.

He brought back!

That's how it was," Putin said.

When the Tsar founded Saint Petersburg on previously Swedish-dominated territory, "not a single country in Europe recognized that territory as Russian, everyone recognized it as Swedish," Putin said.

In addition to Finno-Ugric peoples, “Slavs” also lived there.

It was the same with Peter's campaign against Narwa (in today's Estonia): "He brought back and strengthened, that's what he did." (Actually only later created) right of self-determination of the people today identical with the customs 300 years ago: "To all appearances it falls to us today to bring back and strengthen.

And if we assume that these basic values ​​are the basis of our existence, then we will go a long way in solving the tasks we face.”

At the beginning of the attack, Putin had expressly denied that he was interested in occupying Ukrainian territory.

In the meantime, his power apparatus is pushing ahead with the annexation of the occupied territories in Donbass and southern Ukraine, where symbolism from the tsarist empire is being reintroduced not by chance, but because it suits Putin's taste.

The fact that Russia's president does not accept Ukraine's independence has been made clear on previous occasions, and in 2016 he joked with geography-savvy children that "Russia's borders don't end anywhere".

Now he elevates territorial expansion to the "core value" without which Russia "falls apart."

Thus, Putin's most recent statements fit those of Great Russian imperialists like the businessman Konstantin Malofeev, who was already connected with the land seizures in Crimea and Donbass in 2014: that Russia can only exist as an empire or disappear from the world map.

Putin did not discuss the cost of Peter's war, which at times reportedly accounted for 82 percent of government revenue and in which more soldiers died of disease than died in combat due to poor sanitary conditions.

The young viewers expressed gratitude for the meeting.