The effort by some foreign players to drive a wedge between Russia and Ukraine is quite pragmatic, since the synergies coming from them working together would greatly boost both, Vladimir Putin has said.
ussia and Ukraine have common historic roots and great potential for benefiting each other from joint efforts, so it is no surprise that other players put so much energy into preventing this, the Russian president said in an interview.
“Since any integration of Russia and Ukraine, along with their capacities and competitive advantages would spell the emergence of a rival, a global rival for both Europe and the world, no one wants this. That’s why they’ll do anything to tear us apart,” he told the news agency TASS.
Ukrainian nationalists and politicians who drive the nations further apart are acting against the interest of their nation, Putin argued, citing how Ukraine is becoming less industrialized, and other economic woes since 2014. He believes the allegiances of such people lie elsewhere.
The goal of such people is “not even to get more from robbing the Ukrainian people blind, but hold on to what they had previously stolen”, he said.
So, where’s the cold hard cash?… In foreign banks. And what are they supposed to do to hold on to it? Show that they are serving those who hold that money.
Putin reiterated that he personally considered Russians and Ukrainians as a single people, but stressed that he respected people who consider their Ukrainian identity important, even if Russia’s foreign opponents have been using it to play Ukrainians against Moscow for over a century.
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Source: RT