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Russia ready to show what true de-communization means for Ukraine - Putin

Present-day Ukraine was wholly created by Communist Russia, Putin said

MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. If Ukraine created by the Bolsheviks wants genuine de-communization, this will suit Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

"Now grateful descendants have demolished monuments to Lenin in Ukraine. This is what they call de-communization. Do you want de-communization? Well, this quite suits us. But you must not stop halfway. We are ready to show you what genuine de-communization means for Ukraine," Putin said in his address to the nation over the situation in Ukraine’s southeast.

The modern Ukraine was entirely created by Communist Russia, Russian President said. "The modern Ukraine was entirely and completely created by Russia, or rather, the Bolshevik, Communist Russia," the head of state said.

"This process started almost immediately after the 1917 Revolution; Lenin and his associates did it in a way, very brutal towards Russia itself - by separating, alienating parts of Russia’s own historic territories," Putin added.

According to Putin, "nobody asked millions of people about anything.".

"Then, before and after the Great Patriotic War, Stalin acquired some territory that previously belonged to Poland, Romania and Hungary, and handed them over to Ukraine. […] In 1945, [Nikita] Khruschev took Crimea away from Russia for some reason and also granted it to Ukraine," Putin noted. "This was how the territory of the modern Ukraine was created.".

Vladimir Lenin is the author and the architect of Ukraine, it can be called after him, Putin said. "The Soviet Ukraine emerged as a result of the Bolshevik policy, and even nowadays it can with good reason be called Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Ukraine. He is its author and architect. This is fully confirmed by the archive documents, including Lenin’s directives regarding Donbass which was literally squeezed into Ukraine," Putin said.