The comment quickly disappeared from the site, but can still be found in the web archive.
Berlin As has just become known, the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti published a comment on Russia’s victory over Ukraine on Saturday morning. “A new world is emerging before our eyes,” it says.
Russia is restoring its “historical completeness”; “the tragedy of 1991, this terrible catastrophe of our history, its unnatural fragmentation has been overcome,” it says, alluding to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Vladimir Putin had described this as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century”. Now, “Ukraine as anti-Russia will no longer exist,” the victory has already been celebrated.
Many interpret this prematurely published comment by a strictly state-controlled agency as meaning that Russia’s leadership was counting on a quick military victory. And that the advance of almost 200,000 Russian soldiers in the direction of Ukraine is progressing much more slowly than planned.
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The comment was deleted shortly after it was published without explanation. However, it can still be found in the web archive.
In any case, the report is yet another example of how the media in Russia is being harnessed for state propaganda, as it reveals Putin’s mindset and goals: “Ukraine has returned to Russia. This does not mean that its statehood will be dissolved, but that it will be restructured, restored and restored to its natural state as part of the Russian world,” the commentator writes.
But the neo-imperialist thinking in the Kremlin has long since gone beyond the alleged bringing back of Ukraine, and that is what makes Putin’s aggression so dangerous for the West as well: The play claims that German unity can only be achieved “on the good (even if not very clever) will of Russia” and that Moscow was subsequently met with ingratitude.
Even harsher: “The West as a whole, and even more so Europe, had no power to keep Ukraine within its sphere of influence,” Moscow’s military campaign is also celebrated as a victory over NATO’s weakness.
Interestingly, however, the state agency’s contribution contradicts Putin on one point: The West has failed to take over Ukraine, the commentary says. The Kremlin chief has repeatedly claimed that the leadership in Kyiv is a puppet government controlled by the West.
Last but not least, the comment proves what Putin is ultimately all about: “Russia has risen again”, the hegemony of the West has been broken.