Russia has never attacked anyone
Joe Biden said in Warsaw: “Putin strives to restore an empire.” Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan commented “...as if there were something bad about empires.”
Putin’s spokesman Dmitri Peskov declared four days before the invasion: “Russia is not going to attack Ukraine . ... Throughout our history, Russia has never attacked anyone.”
I wonder how the by-far largest country in the world with about 190 different ethnic groups has become so big without ever waging a war. Did they all submit voluntarily to the Russian conquerors?
In Wikipedia I found: List of wars involving Russia. From Anno Domini 830 to today it lists no less than 194 wars. They comprise: external wars, foreign interventions in domestic conflicts, anti-colonial uprisings of the peoples conquered, princely feuds, peasant uprisings and revolutions. Only naming Russia’s opponents would fill in this entire opinion page.
The Kievan Rus (830-1263) fought 35 wars mostly against the Byzantine Empire.
The Grand Duchy of Moscow (1263-1547) fought 19 wars. Of the 284 years of its existence it was at war for 45 years.
The Tsardom of Russia (1547-1721) had 26 wars in its 174 years. Since many of these wars lasted very long and several wars were fought at the same time the duration of all wars separately added together amounts to 484 years.
The Russian Empire (1721-1917) fought 51 wars. In its 196 years the duration of all wars adds up to 251 years.
The Russian Republic in 1917 knew 1 war: The October Revolution and Civil War.
The Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (1917-1922) in its five years fought 16 wars, the cumulative length of which is 37 years.
The Soviet Union (1922-1991) in its 69 years fought 31 wars the cumulated duration of which is 145 years.
Today’s Russian Federation (1991-present) during these 32 years fought 14 wars totaling 57 years: In 1994 Russia invades Chechnya: Muslim Mujaheedin win the First Chechen War, Yeltsin withdraws. In 1999 Putin invades and subjects Dagestan followed by another invasion of Chechnya. Putin wins the Second Chechen War. An insurgency in the North Caucasus is oppressed.
Russia invades Georgia in 2008: Abkhazia and South Ossetia are wrested from Georgia. Transnistria is wrested away from Moldova in 1992 but the conflict is going on. Russia interferes in Tajikistan’s civil war: United Nations sponsor an armistice.
Putin intervenes in the Syrian Civil War. Putin’s Wagner mercenaries intervene in Libya, Sudan, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Central African Republic.
The 2004 and 2014 revolutions (Orange and Euromaidan respectively) set the stage for the cold-war climate that transmuted into hot wars.
In 2014 Putin annexes Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and instigates insurgencies in Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts.
On February 24, 2022 Putin invades Ukraine. The Russo-Ukrainian War is ongoing.
Putin declared as his target to combat for Russia’s “historic lands”. The Red Army once conquered Berlin. Is East Germany therefore Russia’s historic land? For the moment he cannot even conquer Bakhmut, let alone Berlin!
Putin escalates the war and still believes in victory. But with the immense losses of the Russian Army in Ukraine Russia is unable to wage further wars. The Federation will crumble as did the Soviet Union. Many of the 21 federal subjects will declare independence and China will expand into the power vacuum in Siberia.
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