‘They are people of our culture, part of our people in essence,’ the Russian president has said
The number of ethnic Ukrainians living in Russia is at least the same as in Ukraine itself, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. Putin was discussing Moscow’s repatriation programs during his annual marathon televised Q&A.
”We welcome them,” Putin said of the Ukrainian diaspora. “They are people of our culture, part of our people in essence.”
Millions of Ukrainians chose to flee to Russia when the conflict between Russia and Ukraine escalated, or voted in referendums to break away from Kiev and ask Moscow to accept their regions under its sovereignty, Putin explained.
Five former Ukrainian regions have done so since the Western-backed armed coup in Kiev in 2014. Crimea joined Russia the same year and now constitutes two federal subjects: the city of Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Kherson Region, and Zaporozhye Region became parts of Russia in late 2022. Kiev has refused to acknowledge their new status, which serves as one of the focal points of the current hostilities.
Putin previously stated that Ukrainians and Russians are brotherly peoples and that Moscow considers only the government in Kiev, which it calls an illegitimate regime, as an enemy. On Thursday, Putin used the Russian idiom “folk without kin or tribe” to describe those currently in charge in Ukraine.
The president mentioned Ukrainians when discussing the policy which offers preferential treatment to certain groups of foreign nationals who want to become Russian citizens. Ukrainians enjoy such privileges.
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