Gorbachev was succeeded by Boris Yeltsin (in office 1991-1999). Before the latter's resignation, he unexpectedly chose the relatively unknown Vladimir Putin as acting prime minister. Later that year (2000), Putin was elected president with 53% of the vote. He recalls his major accomplishments as bringing the oligarchs more under control and cutting the poverty rate by two-thirds.
As a result, Putin was re-elected in 2004 with 70% of the votes cast. Russia's constitution forbade his running again in 2008, so he served as prime minister under President Dmitry Medvedev (2008-2012). Putin ran again for president in 20012 and won with 63% of the vote.
As for charges that on his watch, Russia's system is "authoritarian," Putin calls for historical perspective. He points out that Russia was a monarchy for 1000 years. Then came what he refers to as "the so-called revolution of 1917" followed by dictatorship under Stalin and his successors until the 1990s. In view of such history, it is unreasonable, Putin observes, to expect Russia's attempts at democracy to rise to the levels of the United States, Germany, or France in such a short time.
Though a survivor of five assassination attempts and criticized mercilessly by the West's politicians and press, Putin refuses to respond in kind. For instance, Arizona senator John McCain called him "a killer, butcher, thug, and KGB colonel." Putin replies, "We could make similar comparisons, but due to the level of our political culture, we abstain from extreme statements." Instead, Putin consistently refers to the U.S. government at "our friends," and "our partners,"
"Actually," he adds, "I admire Senator McCain, because of his patriotism."
Ukraine
Of course, Oliver Stone's "Putin Interviews" came long before the present crisis in Ukraine. So, for perspective here, let me turn to President Putin's speech of February 21, 2022, where he laid out the history of the conflict, as well as to his speech of February 24th, the day his "special military operation" began.
Both addresses were substantial, each lasting more than an hour. Commentary shows that few in the West have read the speeches. (The earlier-referenced film "Ukraine on Fire," also contains information mirroring what the Russian president said.)
Here's the way Vladimir Putin tells the story:
- The conflict in Ukraine takes place between people who share a history, culture, and spiritual space. They are comrades, colleagues, friends, relatives, and family members.
- Ukraine was always part of Russia. Its modern form as a state was created by the Bolsheviks.
- Both the Russian Empire and the USSR always found it difficult to control their colonies and federated states.
- Beginning in 1922, Stalin did so by complete repression.
- In the 1980s, the nationalist ambitions of local elites resurfaced, supported by some factions of the Communist Party.
- By 1989, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) conceded sovereignty to its federated states (including Ukraine).
- Russia was then pillaged by its own oligarchs, while it continued to economically support states like Ukraine.
- Ukraine suffered similar pillage at the hands of its oligarchs who began allying themselves with western powers.
- Those same Ukrainian officials allowed Russophobe Neo-Nazi nationalists to arise who supported terrorists in Chechnya and laid new claims to Russian territories.
- They terrorized Russian-speaking Ukrainians including politicians, activists, and journalists (eventually burning alive peaceful protestors in Odessa).
- All these events, eventually led to the Maidan Coup (2014) supported by the United States with $1million per day.
- With corrupt leaders in charge, Ukraine is now run from western capitals as a neo-colony.
- As such, the west threatens to introduce nuclear weapons into Ukraine while flooding it with conventional arms and conducting constant military exercises aimed at Russia.
- Ukraine's application for NATO membership represents a further direct threat to Russia's national security.
- Russia has appealed for dialog, peace talks, and negotiations, but its appeals have been ignored by the United States which refuses to countenance the existence of any independent country, especially one as large as Russia.
- Accords between Russia and Ukraine that have been signed (an apparent reference to the Minsk agreements) have been transgressed by Kyiv.
- This leaves Moscow with no other choice but to take measures to protect its own interests.
- It will begin by coming to the rescue of the Donbass region which has been under constant attack by Kyiv since 2014 (with more than 14,000 lives lost).
- Russia therefore recognizes the sovereignty of Donetsk and Lugansk as "People's Republics."
Putin's Justifications
Reviewing the bullet points just noted along with additional justifications advanced three days later in a similar speech, show that at least according to U.S. logic, Vladimir Putin's action in Ukraine is completely justified.
Together with additional information garnered from the film "Ukraine on Fire," Putin's own words show that he clearly recognizes that Ukraine was given sovereignty by the USSR in 1989. He has no intention (pace, Professor Snyder) of refusing to recognize the country's existence or of colonizing or occupying it militarily.
As affirmed in his speech of February 24th, the Russian president states his focused intention as protecting his country from a clear, present, and illegal threat represented by NATO's expansion right up to Russia's borders despite:
- Ukraine's constitutional prohibition against the establishment of foreign military bases on the country's soil
- The accords of the Organization for Security Interests in Europe (OSCE)
- As well as the de-escalating provisions of two Minsk Accords.
Since appeals for negotiation and dialog have been ignored, Putin's only option, he claims, is military self-defense and rescue of the citizens of Donbass who have appealed to Russia for help in a war which has already taken many thousands of lives.
With all this in mind, Putin declares his intention in Ukraine as restricted to the following goals:
- Protecting Donetsk and Luhansk from what he sees as genocide perpetrated there by the Ukrainian Nazi Azov regiment largely responsible for Kyiv's aggression in Donbass since 2014
- Bringing to justice those responsible for the massacres
- Denazifying and destroying the Ukrainian army in the process.
To repeat: those goals are clearly limited. The Russian president completely denies an intention or ability to occupy Ukraine which is a sovereign state.
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