Putin asks Kyiv to be neutral, act in own interests instead of 'dancing on West's tune'

Russia's Vladimir Putin on Sunday, September 17, called on Ukraine to be an 'independent state' and to act in their own interests instead of 'dancing on the tune' of the West. Speaking alongside his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, Putin advised Ukrainians 'not to forget their traditional dances', making an allegory reference. 

"Of course, Tango is a great dance, but I think it is important for Ukraine not to forget Gopak. That’s important. Otherwise, they’ll continue to dance on someone else’s tune. In the end, the tune will be ours, they’ll dance to that," Russia's President Putin said, according to Kremlin-based reports. 

Previously, in an opinion piece on the 'historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians,' Putin had claimed that the Russians and Ukrainians were one people – 'a single whole'. He had propelled the theory of Ukraine being a part of Russia, saying that it is not the rhetoric based on the current political context, but that "it is what I have said on numerous occasions and what I firmly believe."

Ukraine and Russia share the same historical and spiritual space, Putin stressed, adding that a 'wall' had emerged between the two nations in recent years due to interference from external entities, which he labelled as a 'great misfortune and tragedy'. This is the "result of deliberate efforts by those forces that have always sought to undermine our unity," Putin asserted, adding that this tactic by the West was immemorial – divide and rule. 

_{Governor of Sevastopol, Mikahil Razvozhayev with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Sevastopol, Crimea. Credit: AP}

Modern Ukraine 'entirely created by Russia': Putin 

As he ordered what he describes as "the special military operation" to demilitarise Ukraine, Putin noted in a lengthy televised speech from the Kremlin, that the modern Ukraine was "entirely created by Russia or, to be more precise, by Bolshevik, Communist Russia. This process started practically right after the 1917 revolution."

Emphasizing that Kyiv's alignment with NATO, and its inclination towards the United States is a direct threat to Russia's own sovereignty and territorial security, Russia's defiant leader said that Ukraine, in fact, never had the “stable traditions of real statehood." The responsibility of the continuation of the bloodshed "lies entirely on the conscience of Ukraine’s ruling regime," said the Russian President, deriding the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's cozy relations [and overtures] with the United States. 

"I would like to emphasise again that Ukraine is not just a neighbouring country for us. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space. These are our comrades, those dearest to us – not only colleagues, friends and people who once served together but also relatives, people bound by blood, by family ties," said Putin, while berating the conflict that has been ongoing for eight years in the eastern Donbass region. 

_{Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia's President Vladimir Putin in 2019 at Elysee Palance in France to attend a working session. Credit: AP}

Russia's President also justified the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, saying that in 1954, Khrushchev "took Crimea away from Russia for some reason and also gave it to Ukraine." In February, last year, during his telephonic conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron Putin had asserted that the 'settlement' of the Ukrainian conflict was only possible if Kyiv was 'neutral, denazified and demilitarised' and that Russia's annexation of the 2014 Crimea was formally recognised.