Vladimir Putin justifies his imperial aims in Tucker Carlson interview

• During his much-publicized recent interview with American right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson, Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined his perception of Russian history as the second anniversary of his invasion of Ukraine approaches.
• During his interview with Carlson, Putin traced Russian history to the ninth century.

Putin: Russia saved Europe from Nazis

• Russia’s identity today is closely connected to the Second World War, or to use Russian parlance, the Great Patriotic War.
• The fact that 4.5 million Ukrainians fought in the Red Army is largely ignored as Russia argues it alone saved Europe from the Nazis.

Neo-Nazi takeover?

• News outlets link the war to the invasion of Ukraine, alleging the country was taken over by neo-Nazis in 2014.
• At the behest of the West, so goes the allegation, Ukrainian protesters overthrew the elected president, Viktor Yanukovych, and installed a neo-Nazi regime.

‘Cleansing’ Ukraine

• Lavrov recently claimed the Russian invasion of Ukraine has “cleansed” Ukrainian society of those “who do not feel they belong to Russia history and culture.” Medinsky, who authored the Grade 10 history textbook for Russian high school students, has advanced a new interpretation of the Second World War that focuses on the “genocide of the Soviet people.” New graves of Russian victims have suddenly been discovered and excavated, and Soviet losses continue to be counted.
• As for the Holocaust in neighbouring Belarus — a subject several western scholars are studying — Jews and other minorities are now subsumed under the term “Soviet people.” Just as history is continually being rewritten and propagated in Russian schools, it’s happening in Belarus, too.
• The two countries will soon produce a common textbook featuring new theories about the “genocide of the Belarusian people.” The memory of the Second World War is alive and well in both nations.

Justifying authoritarianism

• If it did, why did Putin refrain from denouncing Sweden and Finland when they joined the alliance?
• They lie in the past, in a narrow, distorted perception of Russian history and Russia’s claims to lands it once ruled.
• Read more:
  The legacy of the Euromaidan Revolution lives on in the Ukrainian-Russian war

A return to colonialism?

• Carlson provided Putin with a forum to outline his imperialist dreams.
• Carlson failed to call out the facile nature of Putin’s claims during the interview.
• We are a peaceful and free nation.” Mongolia may be.

David Roger Marples does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.