© Pavel Golovkin/Associated PressPresident Vladimir V. Putin talked to reporters on Thursday after a television appearance in which he declared Russia’s claims over Ukrainian territory. He referred to the southeastern Ukraine region’s name from the 1700s, Novorossiya, or New Russia.
Even as the world's top diplomats were gingerly drafting a tentative accord to "de-escalate tensions" in Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin was on national television here, brashly declaring Russia's historical claims over Ukrainian territory, reiterating a threat to use military force and
generally sounding a defiant, even mocking, tone toward the United States.
Mr. Putin, appearing cool and confident during a four-hour question-and-answer show, referred repeatedly to southeast Ukraine as "New Russia" - a historical term for the area north of the Black Sea that the Russian Empire conquered in the 1700s. And, he said, only "God knows" why the region became part of Ukraine in the 1920s, signaling that
he would gladly correct that error.
Dropping previous pretenses, he calmly acknowledged for the first time that Russian troops had been deployed to
occupy and annex Crimea. And in perhaps the day's most astonishing moment, he took evident delight in fielding a prerecorded question from
Edward J. Snowden, the fugitive American who is wanted on espionage charges for leaking documents on surveillance programs.
© Anton Pedko/European Pressphoto Agency Local residents and sailors with the Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol, Crimea, watched President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Thursday during a televised question-and-answer show.
If Mr. Putin's show of bravado seemed out of sync with the diplomatic niceties in Geneva, it laid plain his determination to sustain Russian influence over Ukraine and
his utter refusal to be cowed by the West. The tentative agreement did not address Russia's annexation of Crimea, nor did it require the Kremlin to withdraw its troops massed on the Ukrainian border.
While Russia's willingness to go along with the accord most likely forestalled an immediate new round of economic sanctions by the West, Mr. Putin's televised remarks made clear that his view of an independent Ukraine as a historical accident had not changed, nor had the existing, narrowly targeted sanctions deterred his plan to reassert Russian power
by challenging America's dominance in global affairs.
Underscoring that his views on Ukraine are still driven by long-held beliefs, Mr. Putin on Thursday repeated his view that
the West had lied to Russia about NATO expansion. "At one time we were promised," Mr. Putin said, "that after Germany's unification, NATO wouldn't spread eastward."
He continued: "Our decision on Crimea was partially prompted by this. Needless to say, first and foremost we wanted to support the residents of Crimea. But we also followed certain logic: if we don't do anything, Ukraine will be drawn into NATO sometime in the future. We'll be told, 'This doesn't concern you' and NATO ships will dock in Sevastopol, the city of Russia's naval glory."
Mr. Putin's view that the West has lied to Russia and humiliated him on numerous occasions, including its plans for Libya, explain why he will continue to talk - and act - tough on Ukraine even as he takes diplomatic steps toward resolving the crisis, said Samuel Charap, the senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the
International Institute for Strategic Studies, a research organization in Washington.
"They are going to keep the boots on Ukraine's throat until they are 100 percent convinced that they have gotten what they wanted," Mr. Charap said in an interview. "They believe that if they completely pulled back from the pressure they are applying,
tomorrow the West would swoop in and try to steal Ukraine away again."
© Rural Revolutions in Southern Ukraine by Leonard G. Friesen
Mr. Putin's willingness to challenge the West aggressively also reflects
his relatively strong position - militarily in post-Soviet space, and politically on the domestic front. "He's at the top of his game," Mr. Charap said. "In terms of the situation on the ground and Ukraine's future, they have the upper hand." He added, "There's a sense you get watching him of someone who has an 80 percent approval rating and has been supported by the people he cares about most."
That much was clear throughout Mr. Putin's four-hour session. Although he sat at a desk throughout, he seemed to be strutting the entire time.
Mr. Putin pointedly asserted that he had the authority to invade Ukraine, but added that he hoped it would not be necessary.
"I remind you that the Federation Council has given the president the right to use armed forces in Ukraine," he said, referring to the upper house of Parliament. "I very much hope that I will not have to exercise this right, and that through political and diplomatic means we will be able to resolve all the pressing, if not to say burning, issues in Ukraine."
Mr. Putin's use of the historical term "Novorossiya," or "New Russia," to refer to southeastern Ukraine, which he had not emphasized previously, suggested that he was replicating Russia's assertions of historical ties to the Crimean Peninsula before its occupation and annexation.
Novorossiya generally refers to a broad area, stretching from what is now the border of Moldova in the west to the Russian border in the east, including Donetsk, the port city of Odessa to the south and the industrial center of Dnepropetrovsk to the north. On the question of Ukraine, Mr. Putin repeated his assertions that Russia feels an obligation to protect ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine, where they are a large minority of the population. "
We must do everything to help these people to protect their rights and independently determine their own destiny," he said.
"The question is to ensure the rights and interests of the Russian southeast," he added. "It's New Russia. Kharkiv, Lugansk, Donetsk, Odessa were not part of Ukraine in czarist times, they were transferred in 1920. Why? God knows. Then for various reasons these areas were gone, and the people stayed there. We need to encourage them to find a solution."
Mr. Putin took questions from the studio audience in Moscow, but also from various other locations, including Sevastopol in Crimea, where Russia maintains the headquarters of its Black Sea fleet and where the cameras showed a large, cheering crowd, with many people waving Russian flags.
Mr. Putin was at his most determined in asserting Russia's right to protect itself against Western threats.
"When the infrastructure of a military bloc approaches our borders, we have grounds for certain apprehensions and questions," he said at one point. "We must take certain steps."
At another point he said that Russia simply could not allow NATO into Ukraine.
"In this way, Russia may be really ousted from this region that is extremely important for us, a region for which so many Russians gave up their lives during all the previous centuries," he said. "This is a serious thing."
Andrew Roth contributed reporting.
Comment: While the NYT seems to by parrotting some of the same talking points as the Guardian (e.g., Putin "mocking" Obama), on the whole their coverage here is more objective. Russia is in a strong position, and is challenging U.S. hegemony in the world. It's has nothing to do with "Putin vs. Obama".