According to journalist Vitaliy Portnikov, Putin’s ambition is to annex the captured areas to Russia rather than bring the USSR back to life. Mr.Portnikov stated this in a live TV program on “Espreso.TV.”
“Putin is not interested in reestablishing the Soviet Union. For the proponent of such political thinking, the USSR was a mistake. Because the people of the old Russian Empire were given a false sense of statehood in the USSR to prevent them from fleeing. We talk a lot about the USSR, but we don’t realize that the Ukrainian people were also under occupation there and that the Soviet administration spent years suppressing popular uprisings”, Portnikov said.
Putin, in the journalist’s opinion, wants both Belarus and Ukraine to join Russia.
“By simply annexing territory to the Russian Federation, Putin hopes to avoid this error. His proposal calls for Russia to absorb all of Ukraine and Belarus, with autonomies for Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Likewise, Kazakhstan should be separated, as should Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The majority of Kazakhstan will formally become a republic within the Russian Federation, while the remaining portion will just merge with Russia”, Portnikov said.
