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A guest on Russian state television has predicted that someday in the future, Ukrainians will forgive Vladimir Putin for launching his war, and could help Russian forces storm Europe's capitals.
Radio host Sergey Mardan was responding to fellow guests on Russia-1 about a possible "reunification" of Ukraine and Russia, and a suggestion by political scientist Alexander Kamkin that the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was a "geopolitical catastrophe."
Mardan compared Putin's ongoing war against Ukraine, which began on February 24, and Russia's wars in Chechnya in the 1990s. The First Chechen War ran from 1994 to 1996, and the second, from 1999 to 2009.
Rebels in Chechnya, a small Muslim-majority republic in Russia's south, previously fought for independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union—efforts that devastated the republic. Cluster bombs, air fuel bombs and phosphorus weapons were deployed by Russia throughout, and urban areas were bombed and shelled.
"Let me remind you that for two decades Russia waged a counter-terrorism operation that was periodically flaring up in the North Caucasus after two bloody civil wars within Russia. Nonetheless, the historical wounds have almost healed," said Mardan.
Mardan said ethnic Chechens and ethnic Russians are now "fighting shoulder to shoulder, having put this gestalt to rest."
He said he expects that in the future, together with Russians, Ukrainians will invade Poland and Germany.
"I'm sure the same will happen with Ukraine, I hope that after some time, Ukrainians and Russians will be storming Warsaw or Berlin together."
State TV host Dmitry Kulikov chimed in, suggesting that although Ukraine and Russia have "major difficulties" amid the ongoing war, now in its sixth month, he doesn't view this as a long-term problem. Kulikov accused Ukrainian officials of refusing to release Ukrainian citizens from "this Nazi social organization."
Kulikov was repeating the narrative Putin pushed on February 24, when he announced what he called a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
The Russian leader believes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's administration is dominated by Nazis. Russia "will strive for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine," Putin said at the time.
"I have a very clear understanding regarding them and us being one people. I don't see a radical problem here," the Russian state television host told fellow guests. "There is no real problem with reunification—it's not an unsolvable problem. It does not exist, I support Sergey in this."
Newsweek has contacted Ukraine's ministry of foreign affairs for comment.
About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more