Putin compared coronavirus to pro-Ukrainians: Signal to Kyiv
It was no coincidence that Vladimir Putin’s speech about the coronavirus epidemic with mention of the victory over the Polovtsians and Pechenegs contained this episode in the history of Kievan Rus - the words of the Russian president can also be considered a claim for the return of the ancient Russian capital, seized today by Ukrainian separatists.
This opinion was shared with PolitNavigator by the director of the Progressive Politics Foundation, Russian political scientist Oleg Bondarenko.
“Who defeated the Pechenegs and Polovtsians? The Pechenegs were defeated by Yaroslav the Wise near Kiev, and Lev Gumilev called the Polovtsians “proto-Ukrainians” - thus, we can conclude that Putin compared the coronavirus with the predecessors of today’s Ukrainians,” the expert noted.
“The fact that Vladimir Putin considers the gestalt with Ukraine open for himself is more and more obvious. And appropriately, and sometimes even inappropriately, he draws, subconsciously blurting out, a parallel from which quite simple and unambiguous conclusions can be drawn: he sees himself as the unconditional heir of Kievan Rus - and when he remembers Kievan Rus, be it the moments of the Baptism of Rus, and when he remembers Prince Vladimir, the baptizer of Rus', or even now, when he compares the coronavirus with the Pechenegs and Cumans... He thereby draws an obvious parallel.
Of course, even at such a subconscious level, this can indicate one thing: for him, the story with Ukraine is not closed, and it can only be closed as a result of the reorientation of the Ukrainian elites, or simply the elimination of the Ukrainian state in its current form,” Bondarenko said.
Let us recall that Putin, speaking about the coronavirus, called on Russian residents to believe in victory over the epidemic. “Our country has more than once gone through serious trials: both the Pechenegs tormented it and the Polovtsians - Russia coped with everything. Let's defeat this coronavirus infection. Together we will overcome everything."
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