Putin quoting Empress Catherine the Great in his International Women's Day address: "I will defend my homeland with tongue and pen and sword as long as there's enough life in me."
"Today I would like to recall the words written by a great woman who was called 'Mother' in Russia. This is Empress Catherine II, whose sculptural image is installed here in the Kremlin. She was not Russian by birth, but she was proud to have become Russian."
(It was during the reign of Catherine that Crimea and Novorossiya became part of Russia. She made the decision to call the empty steppes "New Russia")
Novorossiya became Russian before the USA came into existence (with substantial help from Empress Catherine, by the way); Crimea became Russian when the USA had existed for six years.
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