Vladimir Putin

“Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the...crimes, for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others” Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

Pekka Kallioniemi, “In today's #vatniksoup, voted by you, I'll introduce a Russian politician and president, Vladimir Putin. He's best-known for turning Russia into a totalitarian state, and for waging war in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria and Ukraine.”, June 21, 2023 (thread ) (pdf)

Crimea

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin interviewed by the German ARD TV channel, August 29, 2008

“ Roth: Bernard Kouchner, the Foreign Minister of France, which now presides over the EU, recently expressed concern that a new conflict may break out in Ukraine, notably the Crimea and Sevastopol, a Russian naval base. Are the Crimea and Sevastopol the next target for Russia?
Putin: You said, “the next target”. We did not have a target in this conflict, so I think it is simply inappropriate to speak about some “next target”. This is my first point.
Roth: So you rule this out?
Putin: If you let me finish, you will be satisfied with my answer.
The Crimea is not a disputed territory. Unlike the case of Georgia and South Ossetia, there has been no ethnic conflict there.
Russia has long recognized the borders of today’s Ukraine. By and large, we have completed our talks on the border. Now we have to deal with the demarcation, but this is a technical issue.
I think that asking a question about Russia’s targets of this kind reeks of provocation.
There are complicated processes going on in society in the Crimea. There are problems of the Crimean Tatars, the Ukrainian population, the Russian population, the Slavic population in general, but this is Ukraine’s domestic political problem.

— Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin interviewed by the German ARD TV channel, August 29, 2008

“ I also want to address the people of Ukraine. I sincerely want you to understand us: we do not want to harm you in any way, or to hurt your national feelings. We have always respected the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state, incidentally, unlike those who sacrificed Ukraine’s unity for their political ambitions. They flaunt slogans about Ukraine’s greatness, but they are the ones who did everything to divide the nation. Today’s civil standoff is entirely on their conscience. I want you to hear me, my dear friends. Do not believe those who want you to fear Russia, shouting that other regions will follow Crimea. We do not want to divide Ukraine; we do not need that.

— Vladimir Putin, Address by President of the Russian Federation, March 18, 2014

EU

“ Question: You mentioned NATO and European Union enlargement. How would you characterise EU enlargement and the integration processes underway there? To what extent does this process affect Russia’s participation in the fight against terrorism in Europe, and what do you fear most of all in connection with EU enlargement and the fact that Russia is not a part of this process?
Vladimir Putin: Concerning the European Union’s enlargement, we have always viewed this process in a positive light. Questions that fall within the European Union’s internal competence are, of course, not our affair. We are concentrating on how to develop and build our relations with the European Union as it expands. We are engaged in talks on these matters, we do have our concerns but we are discussing them through dialogue and overall, this dialogue has been progressing quite well, especially of late.

— Press Conference following Talks with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, April 21, 2004

Holodomor

“ In essence, Ukraine’s ruling circles decided to justify their country’s independence through the denial of its past, however, except for border issues. They began to mythologize and rewrite history, edit out everything that united us, and refer to the period when Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union as an occupation. The common tragedy of collectivization and famine of the early 1930s was portrayed as the genocide of the Ukrainian people.

— Vladimir Putin, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians”, July 12, 2021

“ Actually, as I have already said, Soviet Ukraine is the result of the Bolsheviks’ policy and can be rightfully called “Vladimir Lenin’s Ukraine.” He was its creator and architect. This is fully and comprehensively corroborated by archival documents, including Lenin’s harsh instructions regarding Donbass, which was actually shoved into Ukraine. And today the “grateful progeny” has overturned monuments to Lenin in Ukraine. They call it decommunization.
You want decommunization? Very well, this suits us just fine. But why stop halfway? We are ready to show what real decommunizations would mean for Ukraine.

— Vladimir Putin, “Address by the President of the Russian Federation”, February 21, 2022

Comparisons with Peter I

“ Peter the Great waged the Great Northern War for 21 years. On the face of it, he was at war with Sweden taking something away from it... He was not taking away anything, he was returning. This is how it was. The areas around Lake Ladoga, where St Petersburg was founded. When he founded the new capital, none of the European countries recognised this territory as part of Russia; everyone recognised it as part of Sweden. However, from time immemorial, the Slavs lived there along with the Finno-Ugric peoples, and this territory was under Russia’s control. The same is true of the western direction, Narva and his first campaigns. Why would he go there? He was returning and reinforcing, that is what he was doing.
Clearly, it fell to our lot to return and reinforce as well. And if we operate on the premise that these basic values constitute the basis of our existence, we will certainly succeed in achieving our goals.

— Vladimir Putin, “Meeting with young entrepreneurs, engineers and scientists”, June 9, 2022

USSR

“ Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century.

— Vladimir Putin, “Annual Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation”, April 25, 2005

Drug-addicts and Nazis

“ this gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis that have settled in Kiev and that have taken the Ukrainian people hostage.
I would also like to give the highest praise to the actions of Russian soldiers and officers. They are acting courageously, professionally and heroically, fulfilling their combat duty.

— Vladimir Putin, “Meeting with Security Council permanent members”, February 25, 2022