By Peter Dickinson, for UkraineAlert
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared last week that Ukrainians have no right to the occupied regions of their own country. “I think it is not their territory, but the historical territory of Russia,” he stated.
This is nothing new, of course. Since 2022, the Kremlin dictator has routinely referred to Ukrainian lands as “historically Russian.” Nevertheless, Putin’s most recent comments are worthy of closer inspection as they shed light on the scale of his imperial ambitions, while also hinting at the true extent of the security threat posed by a revisionist Russia.
A clearer international understanding of Putin’s imperial agenda is particularly important amid US-led efforts to revive stalled peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. With three-way negotiations set to resume next month, American officials are currently focused on Moscow’s immediate territorial demands in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. “People keep talking about a war in Ukraine. That war is about Donbas. It’s about one region of the country,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented last week.
Critics claim this American emphasis on the Donbas is dangerously shortsighted. They argue that while the US side appears to be treating peace negotiations as a geopolitical real estate deal, Putin is operating on a completely different wavelength and thinks he is waging a holy war to reclaim Russia’s great power status. In order to achieve this messianic goal, Putin believes he must extinguish Ukrainian statehood altogether.
Putin’s recent comments leave little room for doubt that his expansionist vision extends far beyond eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. Indeed, his quest to reclaim “historical Russian lands” almost certainly includes the whole of Ukraine and much more besides.
Putin has never made any secret of his contempt for Ukrainian independence. From the early years of his reign, he has been notorious for insisting Ukrainians are Russians (“one people”). Since the start of the full-scale invasion, his anti-Ukrainian rhetoric has become even more extreme. Speaking last year at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin stated: “all of Ukraine is ours.” He has also laid claim to numerous major Ukrainian cities such as Black Sea port Odesa, which he has branded as a “Russian city.”
Then there is the question of Kyiv. According to Russia’s officially endorsed national narrative, the Ukrainian capital is in fact “the mother of all Russian cities.” In a very real sense, therefore, Kyiv is more sacred to Russian imperialists than much of the Russian Federation itself. If Putin wants to secure his place in Russian history, he can hardly agree to a compromise peace that secures the rust belt towns of the Donbas but leaves the holiest Russian city of them all in the hands of a hostile power.
Given all that we now know about Putin’s desire to turn back the tide of history, it would be reckless to assume his revanchist fantasies are limited to Ukraine. The Russian ruler is well known for lamenting the collapse of the Soviet Union, which he has referred to as “the disintegration of historical Russia.” He is also fond of stating that “Russia’s borders do not end anywhere.”
While Ukraine unquestionably occupies a special place in Russia’s national mythology, the bogus historical arguments used to justify the current invasion can easily be applied to others. The list of potential future Kremlin targets is long. At its greatest extent in 1914, the Russian Empire incorporated territory that today belongs to at least fifteen independent countries stretching from Northern Europe to Central Asia. All could become victims of a resurgent Russia if Putin is not stopped in Ukraine.
In an even broader sense, Putin’s quest to reclaim historically Russian lands is a recipe for endless international instability. Every single border in Europe could be contested on historical grounds, while the rightful owners of entire continents would be up for debate. If Putin is permitted to establish the principle of seizing foreign land based on historical claims, the repercussions will shake the global order to its very foundations.
None of this means that negotiating with Putin is futile. But any attempt to broker a sustainable peace in Eastern Europe must begin with a frank assessment of the Russian ruler’s imperialistic aims and objectives. Putin believes he is on an historic mission to reverse the Soviet collapse and revive the Russian Empire. He will not be swayed by talk of economic incentives or minor territorial concessions. Instead, Western leaders must speak to Putin in the language of strength and convince him that his unhinged dreams of colonial conquest have no place in the twenty-first century.
By Peter Dickinson, for UkraineAlert
Peter Dickinson is editor of the Atlantic Council’s UkraineAlert service.
