Putin Wants to Strengthen ‘Fraternal Ties’ with Ukrainians

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin approved an updated National Security Strategy which contains a thesis on “strengthening fraternal ties between the Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian peoples.”

Kremlin’s foreign policy goals also include the task of consolidating the position of the Russian language as a “language of international communication” and providing support to Russian citizens living abroad in preserving their “all-Russian cultural identity.”

At the same time, the strategy does not specify the concrete steps that the Russian Federation plans to take to do so.

The other day, during a live television call-in show with the President, Putin reiterated that he considered Ukrainians and Russians one people. He also added that the leadership of Ukraine, unlike the people, was unfriendly to Russia.

Meanwhile, during a telephone conversation with President of France Emmanuel Macron on Friday, 2 July, Putin complained about Ukraine, saying that Kyiv was allegedly “destructive” in resolving the situation in Donbas.

Putin and Macron called for intensification of negotiation progress, in particular in the Normandy format, for the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

At the same time, the Russian side wants Ukraine to establish a direct dialogue with the terrorist groups “LPR” and “DPR,” as well as to grant the occupied territories of Donbas a “special status.” Moscow believes that these are Ukraine’s obligations.

As a reminder, official Kyiv insists: the Russian Federation, pushing the power of Ukraine to direct negotiations with Russian-backed militants from the occupied territories, tries to abdicate responsibility for war in Donbas. Thus, the Kremlin wants to globally position itself not as a party to the conflict but solely as a mediator.

Bohdan Marusyak