Houston Chronicle by Rebecca Adeline Johnston 2/24/2022
Texas comes up as a topic of discussion in the Kremlin more often than one might expect.
During a news conference in December, Russian President Vladimir Putin evoked the Lone Star State to defend his country’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. “Mexico and the U.S. never had territorial disputes? Who did California used to belong to? And Texas?” Although few people question that Texas is part of the United States, Putin said that most countries still recognize Crimea as part of Ukraine.
One of Putin’s main justifications for military action should give us particular pause. In an hour-long speech recently, he made a factually inaccurate historical argument claiming that Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin invented Ukraine and that the country has no right to exist within its internationally recognized borders. Russian state media have aired maps of Ukraine cut into pieces that it labeled as “gifts” from Russian czars and Soviet rulers.
More:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Opinion-Why-Putin-loves-to-talk-about-Texas-and-16945383.php
