Putin compares self to Peter the Great, says he is taking back Russian lands

[PeteS in CA]

Putin compares self to Peter the Great, says he is taking back Russian lands

https://thehill.com/news/3518666-putin-compares-self-to-peter-the-great-says-he-is-taking-back-russian-lands/

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday compared himself to the country’s first emperor, Peter the Great, in a speech marking the 350th anniversary of the figure’s birth.

Putin made the comments while visiting a multimedia exhibit about the 18th-century leader, who led a conquest of the Baltic region while at war with Sweden. Putin remarked that Peter the Great viewed the land as rightfully Russian, drawing a connection to the current war Russia is waging against Ukraine.

“He was returning it and strengthening it,” Putin said, according to The New York Times. “Well, apparently, it has also fallen to us to return and to strengthen.”

Well, for those who figured out that Putin's game is to rebuild the Soviet-Czarist empire, Putin has now said it publicly. Hopefully Moldova, Belarus, the *-stans, and Baltic countries are paying attention and preparing.

[Hoodat]

So all the comments here on this board about Putin being a protector of independent Donbas states are pure unadulterated bullshit lies. 

[PeteS in CA]

So all the comments here on this board about Putin being a protector of independent Donbas states are pure unadulterated bullshit lies.

"Unadulterated bullshit", yes; as to "lies" I haven't seen such comments here, and do not know what the commenters know or their intent. Even if calling someone a "liar" can be OK with TBR rules, that's a "there" to which I'd reluctantly to go.