At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russian ruler Vladimir Putin openly voiced his imperial doctrine: Russia claims as its own any territory entered by its troops, UNIAN reports.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump publicly stated that he believes Putin wants peace. Later, he repeated the same statement, saying he thinks Russia wants to end the war but might be “dragging their feet” on taking decisive action.
“There’s an old rule: wherever the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours,” Putin said in response to a question about where the Russian army might stop in Ukraine.
He then repeated his imperial narrative, calling Ukrainians and Russians “one people” and stressing that, in that sense, “all of Ukraine is ours.”
Ukraine and Russia are two distinct nations with different languages, cultures, and aspirations. The war has only exacerbated this divide, deepening Ukraine’s rejection of Russian influence.
Previously, Russia has listed its long-standing demands to Ukraine:
- to recognize Crimea as part of Russia,
- to acknowledge the annexation of the occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts,
- and to withdraw Ukrainian forces from these territories, even though large areas of them remain under Ukrainian control.
Speaking at the forum, Putin insisted that Ukraine must become a non-aligned, non-nuclear, and neutral state, in other words, defenseless and exposed.
These statements confirm the Kremlin’s refusal to seek a just peace and expose the true goal of the war: Ukraine’s complete subjugation.