On February 21, Russia announced that it recognized the Donetsk People’s Democratic Republic and the Luhansk People’s Democratic Republic in eastern Ukraine as independent countries. Subsequently, Russian troops entered Donbass in the name of peacekeeping forces, and relations between Ukraine and Russia deteriorated sharply. Russian President Vladimir Putin also said in a nationally televised address that Ukraine is not only a neighboring country but an inherent part of Russia's historical, cultural and spiritual space. In fact, Putin has long had this view. In July 2021, Putin said the same thing in his 10,000-word article "On the Historical Unification of Russians and Ukrainians." Whether it is the Russian President who says “Ukraine is an inherent part of the historical, cultural and spiritual space of Russia” or the President of Ukraine who says “Russia is an inherent part of the historical, cultural and spiritual space of Ukraine”, there is nothing wrong with that, because the Russian and Ukrainian The place of origin is the same, and the history and culture are integrated.
Kivan Rus is the country with the same origin as Ukraine, Russia and Belarus
Around the 10th century, various East Slavic tribes combined to form the ancient Rus tribe in what is now Ukraine, and established Kievan Rus, Kievan Rus is considered to be the common origin of the three modern East Slavic states - Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Nikita Poturaev, political adviser to Ukrainian President Zelensky, once said that Ukraine, the successor of Kievan Rus, is more suitable for the country name "Russia" and said that Russia should be renamed "Moscow State". From a geographical point of view, the area around Kiev is the core area where Belarus, Russia and Ukraine originate.
Kievan Rus was occupied by the Mongolian Golden Horde (Kipchak Khanate) in the 13th century. Kievan Rus was split into several parts: the south was directly annexed by the Golden Horde, and the northeast became Vla The Grand Duchy of Kimir-Suzdal (later the Principality of Moscow, the predecessor of Russia), and the west became the Kingdom of Galicia and Volhynia (also known as the Kingdom of Rusonia, the predecessor of Ukraine). Because the Kingdom of Galicia and Volhynia was the border area of ??the original Kievan Rus, the ancient Rus' people here were called "Ukrainians/Ukraina", which means "people on the border", the name of the Ukrainian nation and country That's where it comes from. Starting from about the 14th century, Ukrainians began to form a single nation with unique language, culture and living customs; the ancient Russian tribe gradually split into three branches: Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, evolving into today's Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian tribes. The dominant ethnic group in Belarus.
Ukraine allied with Russia
During the Galician-Volhynian War, the kingdom became a battlefield for Poland, Lithuania, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Mongolian Golden Horde, and was later occupied by Lithuania. occupied. After the establishment of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Kingdom of Galicia and Volhynia became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1648, the Cossack leader Bogdan Khmelnytsky launched an uprising against the Catholic movement in Poland and established the Cossack Emirate. Bogdan Khmelnytsky was therefore revered as the father of Ukraine.
The Cossack Emirate was unable to confront the powerful Poland-Lithuania and instead sought allies. Because they shared the same beliefs, Bogdan Khmelnytsky and Tsar Alexei I signed the Treaty of Pereyaslav in 1654, and the Cossack Emirate was merged into Tsarist Russia. , after more than 300 years, Ukrainian culture gradually unified with Russia.
Ukrainians generally believe that the "Pereyaslav Treaty" was a misstep by the Ukrainian state, which caused Ukrainians to lose their national and national independence. Russians generally believe that the "Pereyaslav Treaty" is an important legal document for the historical and cultural ties between Russia and Ukraine. Based on this, Russian President Putin said that "Ukraine is an inherent part of Russia's historical, cultural and spiritual space." Too much.
After the signing of the Treaty of Pereyaslav, a thirteen-year war broke out between Tsarist Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Federation. During this period, the Cossack Emirate briefly joined the Polish-Lithuanian Federation, and the Polish-Lithuanian Federation almost changed its name to Poland. Lithuanian-Russian Federation. In the end, Tsarist Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth signed the Treaty of Andrusovo in 1667, and the Cossack Emirate was divided into two. The right bank of the Dnieper River (Western Ukraine), except Kiev, was all owned by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ;The Cossack Emirate retains the left bank of the Dnieper River (Eastern Ukraine) with its core in Kiev.
During the reign of Catherine II, the power of the Cossack emirate was gradually weakened. In 1764, Russia finally abolished the title of Cossack chieftain and established three governor-general jurisdictions in Ukraine: Kiev, Chernihiv and Novgorod-Sevelsk jurisdictions. The jurisdiction settings were completely consistent with other administrative regions in Russia. With cultural and ideological assimilation, Ukraine gradually integrated into Russia.
At the end of the 18th century, Russia, Austria, and the Kingdom of Prussia divided Poland three times, so that the old lands of ancient Russia and Belarus were all integrated into the Russian territory. Ukrainian national language and culture were suppressed, Russification intensified, and it was called Little Russia. Catherine II defeated the Ottoman Turks in 1783 and occupied its vassal Crimean Khanate. A large number of Russians began to immigrate to the Crimean Peninsula.
By 1795, with the exception of Galicia, the rest of present-day Ukraine was under Russian rule.
The former Soviet Union laid the borders of Ukraine
After the February Revolution of 1917, the tsarist government was overthrown. For the next four years, Ukraine descended into a period of chaos. The armies of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Soviet Red Army and Denikin's White Guard, the Allies, and Poland appeared in Ukraine like a revolving lantern. The Ukrainian people also tried to achieve national independence with the help of external forces, but all external forces wanted to control Ukrainian land and had no intention of supporting Ukraine to become an independent sovereign state. In 1920, Poland and Russia even signed the "Riga Peace Treaty" and Western Ukraine was transferred to Poland. .
In January 1918, Moldova declared independence and merged with Romania in March, but the Transnistria region remained in Ukraine. On December 30, 1922, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and the South Caucasus Federation jointly established the Soviet Union, and Ukraine became one of the founding countries of the former Soviet Union. In 1934, the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Union moved from Kharkov to Kiev.
In June 1940, the former Soviet government used force to force Romania to hand over Bessarabia to Russia on the grounds that the residents of North Bugovina were mainly Ukrainians. Ukraine; at the same time, the Moldavia Soviet Union and the Soviet Republic were established, and the region east of the Dniester broke away from Ukraine and was incorporated into Moldavia. In June 1945, the former Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia signed the "Transcarpathia-Ukraine Treaty", which transferred Transcarpathia to Ukraine; in August of the same year, the former Soviet Union signed a Poland-Ukraine border treaty with Poland. Lenin and Eastern Galicia were returned to Ukraine.
In 1954, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Pereyaslav, the former Soviet Union’s Khrushchev government presented Crimea to Ukraine as a gift. This laid the foundation for Ukraine’s territory and also laid the foundation for Russia’s future. and laid the foundation for the conflict in Ukraine. In December 1991, the Alma-Ata Declaration was signed by 11 former Soviet Union countries, including Russia and Ukraine. In the Declaration, all countries recognized and respected each other's territorial integrity and the inviolability of existing borders. This is The most important legal basis for territorial boundaries of Ukraine.
In February 2015, Ukraine and the Donbass regional government signed the "Minsk Agreement". The Ukrainian government agreed to grant autonomy to the two southeastern states, but the two states remained within Ukrainian territory. The signatories of the Minsk Agreement document include the OSCE and the Russian government. However, the Minsk Agreement has not been fully and effectively implemented, and parties involved in the conflict have accused each other of violating the agreement.
In short, it can be inferred from the speeches of Russian President Putin and the speeches of the Foreign Minister that Russia’s target is not only the two communist countries in eastern Ukraine, but may also plan more Ukrainian regions to follow the example of Ukraine. The Democratic Republic of Crimea, the Donetsk People's Republic or the Luhansk People's Republic.