Will history be kind to Vladimir Putin?
India Today
Amid tensions between Russia and Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has recognised the independence of two separatist regions in Ukraine and ordered deployment of troops there. It remains to be seen how this crisis will play out and whether history will be kind to Putin.
History has a strong role to play in what Russia's President Vladimir Putin plans as his government's policy. Putin's order to Russian forces to march into Ukrainian territories that he recognised as independent comes from his interpretation of history. Observers are already saying that Vladimir Putin is rewriting history as flowing from World War-II.
The question is, borrowing India's former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's famous statement: will history be kind in judging Putin's action?
Since 2014, Putin has changed the sovereign territorial map in East Europe with his aggressive moves in Ukraine. He annexed the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine in 2014 claiming to correct a historical wrong.
Putin has been actively keeping Russian supplies to separatist rebels in South and East Ukraine. Earlier this week, Putin declared independence of two regions held by the rebels in East Ukraine bordering Russia.
Russia has been issuing passports to Ukrainian in rebel-controlled regions since 2019 when Putin signed a decree to the effect. When criticised, Putin defiantly asked what wrong he committed if he took care of Russians living in those areas.
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In recent weeks, Putin sent Russian forces to Belarus, an ally sharing border with Ukraine. This move is strategic given that Belarus border is not very far from Ukraine's capital Kyiv.
