Exclusive: CNN poll finds half of Russians back use of force to keep Ukraine out of NATO
Even before his speech on Monday, Putin had been pushing the view that the two peoples are one, particularly in aHe claimed “the idea of Ukrainian people as a nation separate from the Russians” was formulated by intellectuals as recently as the 19th century, disregarding the nations’ complex history by asserting: “Since there was no historical basis – and could not have been any, conclusions were substantiated by all sorts of concoctions.
If anything, he said, it is the idea of a Russian nation-state that is a modern construct, not that of Ukraine. Just over a quarter of people in Ukraine say Russians and Ukrainians are one people, while two thirds say they are not – a mirror image of the view from across the border.“The voice of the smaller people matters more. A larger country claiming a smaller country is called imperialism,” he told CNN by email.
Even in eastern Ukraine, which borders Russia and is partially controlled by Russian-backed separatists, fewer than half of respondents said they agree that Russians and Ukrainians are one people – a score much lower than in Russia.Eastern Ukraine has a higher share of people who see themselves as ‘one people’ with Russians compared to western Ukraine, but even there, it is not a majority view like in Russia .
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