MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin believes it is important to respect Ukrainians’ national identity, but at the same time never lose sight of the fact that both countries have a common history.
"Once it happened like this and a big part of the Ukrainian population got a sense of their own national identity, etc., we should respect that," Putin said. "We should understand where we are now, but not forget who we are and where we come from," Putin told TASS in an interview for the project entitled "20 Questions with Vladimir Putin".
He pointed out that at a certain historical stage in areas sharing the border with the Catholic world "a community of people feeling to some extent independent from the Russian state began to emerge." "How should we feel about that? We should respect that. But we should not forget about our shared community."
"In the modern world our joint efforts bring us huge competitive advantages. And, vice versa, division makes us weaker. The Ukrainian factor was specifically played out on the eve of World War I by the Austrian special service. Why? It is well-known - to divide and rule," Putin explained.
Russians and Ukrainians are the same people
Putin said that Russia and Ukraine had a great deal to share, although some rifts certainly existed. He agreed that Russia was sustaining losses from the lack of friendship with Ukraine.
"I have said time and again, I believe that we are the same people. I don't know whether they [Ukrainians] like this or not, but if you look at the real situation, that is true," Putin said.
He pointed out that several centuries ago there were no linguistic differences.
"Only as a result of Polonization of Ukrainians that lived in the territory under the Rzeczpospolita, only around the 16th century would the first language differences appear," he added.
"The term ‘Ukrainians’ was used when talking about the people who lived on the frontiers of the Russian state. Ukrainians lived in Pskov, those who defended the southern frontiers from attacks by the Crimean khan were called Ukrainians. Ukrainians were everywhere, even in the Urals.
"Around the same time, up until the 14th-15th centuries even those people, the eastern Slavs, who lived in the Rzeczpospolita or in Muscovy or later in Poland were called Russians. The first linguistic differences appeared much later," he stated.
Putin is certain that "in order to talk about today and tomorrow we need to know history, we need to know who we are, where we came from, and what unites us".
The Russian leader acknowledged: "Many things do divide us, but we should not forget about the bonds that unite us. Also, we should avoid ruining what we have."
Episode 2 of the video interview is available at https://putin.tass.ru/en.