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Anders Åslund Profile picture
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12 Jul, 6 tweets, 2 min read
Putin is truly preoccupied with Ukraine. After his aggressive talk on his "direct line" on June 30, he has now published a 5,000-word article about the "historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians." Also available in Ukrainian, but so far not in English.
kremlin.ru/events/preside…
Putin's main argument is that Russians, Ukrainians and Belorussians spoke one Russian language and belonged to one orthodox religion until 15th century. He prefers to call Ukraine "Malorossiya." He presents Novorossiya & the expansion of the Russian Empire as a popular movement.
Putin tries to seize the Ukrainian culture: Ukraine's national poet "Taras Shevchenko wrote poems in the Ukrainian language, but prose mainly in Russian. Nikolai Gogol's books, a patriot of Russia from Poltava, were written in the Russian language."
Putin names the enemies of great Russia: Historically, Poland and Austria-Hungary & today the US & the EU. In great detail but highly selectively he discusses Ukraine's history, somehow avoiding mentioning Stalin, holodomor & the great terror.
His line about the current history is that "the state coup...inevitably provoked a civil war." But "Russia did everything to stop this fraticide." Really?! His main argument is that the West has developed an "anti-Russia" project.
Putin equivokes about what he wants for Ukraine, but this looks pretty much like a declaration of war. After all, August is approaching and that is the traditional Russian preference for starting wars or just military actions.
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More from @anders_aslund

Anders Åslund Profile picture
30 Jun
Today, Putin reached new oral aggression in his 4-hour press conference. Key points:
1. No World War III would have started if Russia had sunk the British destroyer.
2. Going further than previously in denying the the Ukrainian (& Belarusian) nations.
en.kremlin.ru/events/preside…
Putin on Ukraine:
"Ukrainians and Russians are a single people"
Putin: "Since the Middle Ages, efforts have always been made to divide and break up the Russian people. Rzeczpospolita launched this policy because Poland itself wanted to become a great power. Consequently, it tried to split up all nearby ethnic groups around itself."
Read 9 tweets
Anders Åslund Profile picture
26 Jun
1. "On June 22...the Nazis, having conquered practically the whole of Europe, attacked the USSR. For the Soviet people the Great Patriotic War...began." Well, the USSR attacked Poland on 9/17/1939 & Finland on 11/30/1939, that is, parts of World War II.
2. "We hoped that the end of the Cold War would be a common victory for Europe...the logic of building a Greater Europe united by common values and interests..." So, Putin has abolished the rule of law, freedom & democracy in Russia & attacked countries! What common values?
3. "the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance...eastwards – which...that turned into the main reason for the rapid increase in mutual mistrust in Europe." No, the reason for mistrust & NATO expansion was Russia's energy & military aggression against neighbors.
Read 12 tweets
Anders Åslund Profile picture
24 Jun
EU sanctions Belarusian economy:
1. Prohibition to directly or indirectly sell, supply, transfer or export equipment, technology or software intended primarily for use in the monitoring or interception of the internet and of telephone communications.
consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press…
2. Trade in petroleum products, potassium chloride ('potash'), and goods used for the production or
manufacturing of tobacco products is restricted.
3. Access to EU capital markets is restricted, and providing insurance and re-insurance to the Belarusian government and Belarusian public bodies and agencies is prohibited.
Read 5 tweets
Anders Åslund Profile picture
9 May
Putin's victory day march & speech are interesting in many ways.
1. It looks so obsolete. Everybody is old & so is the style & military equipment.
2. The only foreign leader present is Tajikistan's Soviet-style dictator Emomali Rahmon.
3. The allies are not even mentioned. The USSR did it all alone (news).
4. Putin carefully avoids falling into Russian ethnic or religious nationalism, clarifying: "People of all ethnicities and faiths fought for every inch of our soil." His nationalism is imperial.
5. A novelty is an implicit parallel between the Nazis & the West. Putin: "An enemy attacked our country and invaded our land to kill and to spread death and pain, horror and immeasurable suffering."
en.kremlin.ru/events/preside…
Read 7 tweets
Anders Åslund Profile picture
26 Apr
How pathetic! Kremlin-loyal Russian daily Kommersant reports on Biden under the heading: "Joe Biden got 100 days older." What a disgrace!
Please write your next headline: Putin has exhausted the Russian people for 20 years.
kommersant.ru/doc/4791287?fr…
Kommersant's Kremlin propagandists continue: "Joe Biden is unpopular." That is their interpretation of 52% supporting him in the ABC/Washington Post poll, to compare with 42% for Trump at this time in 2017.
What cheap propaganda!
Amidst this, these propagandists claim that Biden wants to meet Putin in Europe June 15-16. If everything else is wrong, why should we believe them? A fair assumption is that this is a Kremlin provocation to force the White House to offer an early meeting.
Read 5 tweets
Anders Åslund Profile picture
25 Apr
I think that @JoeBiden's commitment to a summit of democracies is a great idea, drawing on Madeleine Albright's community of democracies, but the conditions & aims need to be clear. For 15 years democracies have lost against authoritarians. This summit could turn the tide.
1. The aim should be to establish a certain set of minimal rules for a democracy. Multiple excellent political scientists can do that: @McFaul @LarryDiamond @FukuyamaFrancis @vjb23 @timothymfrye
This should lead to the creating of an international organization of democracy.
2. Similarly, there is no international organization for the development of the rule of law. The summit should intend to set up such an organization as well, but it should be separate from the organization of democracy, because it requires lawyers, not political scientists.
Read 7 tweets

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