> I am speaking about the 1990s that people actually lived through. Hyperinflation, shortages, poverty, crime. Breakdown of social order. Life's savings losing value almost overnight.
I can see that happening easily if Putin loses his war, and all of the options I've ever saw coming from the West drooling with saliva converge to Russia losing.
As Sukhov once said, "I'd prefer to suffer a bit".
> still deserve an empire.
Not sure about Putin, but I don't want one. A nation state would suffice. Crimea is populated by Russians. Everybody speaks Russian in Lugansk, Donetsk and Mariupol. I don't see any utility in a border which separates them from the rest of Russia, or any excuse for it to be where it is. I'm not against any borders at all, just these particular ones.
> I can see that happening easily if Putin loses his war
Putin lost the war a long time ago when the attack on Kyiv failed, Ukraine managed to maintain unified government and military command, and found allies. Countries representing the majority of the world economy are now behind Ukraine and that seals the deal for Russia as much as it did for Nazi Germany. Putin has no path to victory and cannot retreat for domestic reasons. The plan was apparently "3 days to Kyiv" and Plan B does not seem to exist. He is stuck as Ukraine is grinding away the huge inheritance of USSR's weapons that make up the bulk of Russian army to this day. Again, great irony - in the end, it's Russia who is demilitarizing. Ukraine has destroyed over 8000 tanks. By most estimates, only 1100-1500 of old stock remain for refurbishment from graveyards. New production is 120-150 tanks per year. I guess that's why we didn't see a trace of the famous Brezhnev-era armadas on May 9th parade anymore. All the new tanks are gone and patched up rustbuckets from the 1960s would be nothing less than another humiliation.
> I don't see any utility in a border which separates them from the rest of Russia, or any excuse for it to be where it is.
I don't see any utility in a border which separates Finno-Ugric people in Russia from the rest of them in Europe, especially considering the abysmal state of human rights there. When can I expect the return of Karelia to Finland?
Why then do you preach to me instead of just waiting for your victory to realize?
Karelians has never made dominant part of the population of what is now republic of Karelia. The problem here is that the name Karelia comes first and Karelians are an ethnicity of people who also happen to live in Karelia alongside larger nations. Which, ironically, included a lot of Finns and even Swedes before the Revolution.
Currently, ethnic Karelians make up 6% of the population of the republic. So the fact they've got a republic with some support for local culture shows the deep left-leaning woke organization of Russian Federation. But that's the most what they can ever have with 6%.
Meanwhile, Crimea was what, 80% Russian? Donbass was between 60% and 95% Russian speaking depending on the metrics?
> Karelians has never made dominant part of the population of what is now republic of Karelia.
Nor did Russians form the majority in Donetsk or Luhansk or Mariupol before the war, yet you have no issue making territorial claims. This is just another invented excuse. Why was Kherson oblast officially annexed by Russia when barely 14% of Kherson's population identifies as Russian? Who invited you?
Why is it an excuse? USSR occupied Berlin in 1945 not because it wanted to annex it, but because that was obviously conductive to the victory.
Russia wants a land bridge towards its 2 million strong Crimea and that's why Genichensk is now a seat of government of Kherson oblast of Russian federation.
You should hear one day what Russians think about countries such as Latvia or Poland.
A man in Finland can take a bike and ride through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechia and Austria to the southern tip of Italy, then head west to visit the westernmost point of Europe in Portugal, and return home following the Atlantic coast through Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Sweden without being distrubed, stopped or questioned even once. No-one will ask who he is and what he carries in his pockets. He does not have to apply for visas, he does not have to get permits nor go through any ID checks. And not only can he bike through Europe, but he can also move to any place for work, study or leisure as if he was moving to another town in Finland. The Schengen agreement provides undisturbed travel across Europe, and European Union's four fundamental freedoms guarantee the unrestricted movement of people, goods, capital and services. Countless academic, business, cultural and other kinds of relations stand on these foundations. Foreigners from other European countries can even vote at local elections if they are permanent residents.
Russians never had anything comparable, nor will have anytime soon no matter how many people you sacrifice, because your Führer with his "land bridges" is an uneducated moron who doesn't understand how the world of the 21st century works. He has failed to take advantage of the opportunities it offers. He is a Soviet dinosaur who has literally never experienced any of it. Never took a free semester in another country under the Erasmus program, never held Eurail pass or backpacked through Europe as if national borders didn't exist.
The 30-something countries in Europe have achieved through peaceful cooperation much more than Russians ever had through violence, at any point in time.
I find it incredible how you take the stance that "In the 1990s, we were weak and stupid, but now we're smart and strong!" while still acting like total morons, incapable of developing past the ridiculously obsolete 19th century gunboat diplomacy that keeps the entire country retarded. Only complete losers talk about "land bridges" in 2024. Winners talk about AI, chipset designs, clean energy, electric vehicles and reusable rockets, and not of the kind that blow cancer-stricken children into tiny pieces as they rain down on hospitals.
For countries that are run by smart people who are good at diplomacy, national borders lost any real meaning a long time ago.
You could take a bike from St. Petersburg through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, then enter Belarus, go over Ukraine, back into RSFSR, then bike through Sochi, Abkhazia AR, Georgia and into Armenia. Return home biking through Karabakh AR, Baku, Dagestan ASSR, and beyond.
Now you may feel the pain.
Russia had internal-ID based border crossing arrangement with Ukraine up and into 2014, but Ukraine circa 2000 has started talking about how it will cancel that arrangement and require passports and introduce visas and will banish Black Sea Fleet from Crimea, and did three coups against reasonably pro-Russian governments in Ukraine of various success, and now we have zero trust in such arrangements. See also: COVID. The only lands where you may be confident you are able to roam is one under that Russian tricolor flag.
So Russians will absolutely forfeit any kind of agreements and goodwill for having more land, because land is something definite and agreements can be canceled at any moment by the other party without further notice.
There were hopes that CIS will be EU-like commonwealth with USSR-like integration between parties without USSR-like command structure, but it quickly turned sour. Which showed to us the paramount importance of borders and where they're drawn.
> Never took a free semester in another country under the Erasmus program, never held Eurail pass or backpacked through Europe as if national borders didn't exist
Yeah, that is basic Russian experience of not having access to all that stuff. It does definitely highlight the idea that state borders are important, the access to the stuff beyond these borders is complicated and may be denied, so it totally makes sense to have as much useful stuff as possible within your own borders. States 101.
Russians did not care about borders that much in 1990 when you could cross any of these on your bike without noticing, but they definitely started to care a lot about borders in 1995 when they discovered that customs and border guards has now sprang up and the borders are major PITA. They have also started questioning why exactly these borders were drawn in the way they were.
Who are you trying to fool? The USSR had internal passport system and residency permits known as propiskas. People went as far as arranging fake marriages to get propiskas into major cities and settle there. Employers could only hire people with a valid propiska. Living without a valid propiska was a criminal offence. People were essentially serfs tied to the address in their propiska.
In 1990, as Soviet authorities were desperately looking for ways to reform the crumbling country, the Committee for Constitutional Supervision of the USSR had this to say about the system:
The Constitutional Supervision Committee of the USSR, having considered on its own initiative the issue of compliance of the legislation on registration with the provisions of the Constitution of the USSR, laws of the USSR and the international obligations of the USSR on human rights, found that the current provisions on registration significantly limit citizens' freedom of movement, choice of place of residence, work, education and exercise of other rights.
The introduction of restrictions on the rights of citizens to freedom of movement and choice of place of residence is associated with the establishment of rules that violate other fundamental rights of citizens. These rules include:
a) rules prohibiting the heads of enterprises, organizations and institutions from hiring persons who are not registered in the given locality;
b) rules prohibiting the admission to higher and secondary specialized educational institutions and vocational schools in Moscow and a number of other cities of non-resident citizens in a capacity greater than what they can be provided with hostels and living space from close relatives. These rules contradict the principle of equality of all citizens of the USSR in receiving education, enshrined in Articles 34 and 45 of the Constitution of the USSR and Article 4 of the Fundamentals of Legislation of the USSR and Union Republics on public education, as well as the principle of equal access to education recognized in international human rights instruments;
c) rules prohibiting the registration of spouses and members of their families in the living space of a spouse living in Moscow, Leningrad and Kyiv in a hostel, regardless of its nature, or as a temporary resident, or as a subtenant in the living space of another person. These rules, the application of which leads to long-term separation of families, contradict Article 53 of the Constitution of the USSR, Article 11 of the Fundamentals of Legislation of the USSR and Union Republics on Marriage and Family, as well as the relevant provisions of the International Human Rights Acts.
The system of propiskas was finally abolished in 1997 when the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation also found it in violation of human rights. And this is just about being able to freely move, work and study as a citizen inside your own country.
Visiting other countries, even puppets in the Eastern Bloc such as East Germany, was a total pipe dream that required official recommendation and characterization as a loyal commie from your place of employment and trade union, followed by KGB's border department digging through your personal history to ensure that you will not defect as soon as you can (and for that reason, families were not allowed to travel together). The entire process took months. And even then, KGB assigned their people into tour groups to keep an eye on Soviet citizens. During his time in East Germany, Putin was one of those people keeping a watch over Soviet tourists. For most people, this was irrelevant anyway, because the limited number of foreign travel permits went to those on the higher steps of the communist hierarchy and few people were able to leave the country even once in a lifetime.
As I said, you never had anything close to the cooperation Europe has established through peace and cooperation. You are so far behind that you don't even recognize how outdated everything you say sounds. You are living in the past.
I just don't see how that would prevent you from doing that bicycle trip of yours.
Remember that I didn't mention visiting any other countries, just the USSR, which totally did not have these domestic borders that would prevent the bicycle trip you have described. Propiska does not come into equation since you did not mention applying for work and settling permanently.
I wonder if you got the messages that Russians mostly view these borders as a nuisance that they were raped into accepting.
> you never had anything close to the cooperation Europe has established through peace and cooperation
I don't deny it, but then again, so what? I never had anything close to many things. A space trip. A Rolls Royce. A helicopter tour. "Coooperation that Europe has established" as well.
But you know what I do, one Crimea that you can buy a train ticket and visit, with no border controls deciding whether you are entitled to do so this week or no.
My point was that the freedom of movement is not only for trivialities such as riding a bike, but the same ease extends far beyond that, including being able to permanently move across Europe for work, study or leisure - which I did mention - without any obstacles, to the point where national borders do not have any meaningful impact on everyday lives of Europeans. Just pack your things and go and do whatever you want. The sad story about post-USSR borders keeping Russians apart is as dumb as it gets since Europe has already achieved much more through peaceful means than you ever did through violence.
You are choosing to go through another Afghan war every month, destroy the national economy, flush the last remnants of your reputation down the drain, and bring indescribable suffering to millions of people for something that you could get for free if you had smart people running the country.
There is no other way to describe it than a completely retarded behavior. The worst thing is that you cannot even imagine any alternatives to it. This is truly eye-opening for me. You come across like those dumbasses brainwashed by Nazism who committed suicide during the final days of the WWII because they couldn't imagine a future for Germany without the Third Reich.
> national borders do not have any meaningful impact on everyday lives of Europeans
At the same time they do have great impact on the lives of ex-USSR citizens.
We deal with it. That's what we have to do and that's what we do.
> for something that you could get for free
I don't remember a single moment after 1991 when this was an option.
I do remember that EU and USA had spent good amount of money and effort to undermine any attempts for Russian Federation to form such bonds with any of its neighbours, and to replace any Russian-sympathetic government of these countries. And now they say they want to further fracture Russia and set up more of these borders with more misery.
> The worst thing is that you cannot even imagine any alternatives to it.
I can easily imagine alternatives to it (I've obviously been to EU many times), I just see throughout my life that we are not admitted to any of these alternatives. We're not getting any of that stuff, not in the past and not in the future, so I would rather have Crimea. And Lugansk. And Mariupol. This is the reputation that we need now.
As for dumbass brainwashed yadda yadda, molon labe. Come and get it. The folks on the front line are seriously tired by now, but they have this precious experience and cohesion, so should any Eastern European chihuahuas show up there, you will be wasted good.
> At the same time they do have great impact on the lives of ex-USSR citizens.
No, that is not true at all. If we count all the people who lived directly in the USSR and in the Eastern Bloc dictatorships under Russian control, then that's about 100 million people who have gained the same rights and opportunities as the French, Italians and other European nations enjoy. Impacted are only those who never chose to participate in European initiatives that have brought people so closely together. It was Russia's choice to stay out of them and thus it's strange to see complaints that you feel left out.
> I do remember that EU and USA had spent good amount of money and effort to undermine any attempts for Russian Federation to form such bonds with any of its neighbours, and to replace any Russian-sympathetic government of these countries.
I trust the recollections of people who were actually at the helm of Russia over yours, for I doubt you were even born then. As the minister of the foreign affairs of the Russian Federation 1990-1996, Andrei Kozyrev was the top man in charge of restoring Russia's relations with the world, and he tells a quite different story. In short, KGB hardliners refused to accept loss of their special privileges and fought back against opening Russia up to the world. They wanted a hermit kingdom that would serve as their personal piggy bank with them at the top. By hook and by crook, they took over the entire Russian government and turned it into a dictatorship led by low-level KGB apparatchik.
According to Kozyrev, Europe and the US can only be blamed - if at all - for not intervening strongly enough to keep Russia on track of becoming a modern country. They could've done more to support people who tried to steer Russia towards freedom, peace and prosperity, but ultimately it is up to Russians to take care of their garden.
Fast-forward 25 years, and we have Putin and his gang in palaces and on superyachts while you have "precious social cohesion" dying under American missiles on the potato fields of Ukraine. How can you not feel robbed and made a fool?
And like stereotypical abusers, to isolate and manipulate you, Putin constantly feeds you lies that everyone else is out to humiliate and mistreat you. You have internalized it to such extent that you not only believe it yourself, but try to convince others that it is true. It is not true and it never was.
The door to Europe was open to you. It was literally official policy in many parts of Europe. You only had to take a step. At the critical point in history, you failed to make the right decision and take advantage of the opportunity.
You can spin coping stories about Crimea all you want if they comfort you and help to forget this gigantic blunder, but with a navy that ran away to avoid being wiped out, an army whose HQs and staging areas get blown up so often that news have stopped reporting them, and an air force that is unable to fly over Crimea without being shot down, the chances of victory over Ukraine look slimmer than ever. You aren't the first Nazis to invade Crimea and hold it for a while, with an illusion that it will last forever.
> never chose to participate in European initiatives
That's not true, Russian Federation did "participate in European initiatives"
> refused to accept loss of their special privileges and fought back against opening Russia up to the world
And how would that look like? Russia was widely open up to the world up and until 2014. It's more open to the world today that you care to admit.
It would be interesting to read Kozyrev directly if you've got a link, though.
> done more to support people who tried to steer Russia towards freedom
How would that even look like!?
> The door to Europe was open to you
That's false, it was never open. Just take a look what Turkey is doing now. They've spent decades on reading EU's cucumber party regulations and now they've got semi-dictatorship and no longer admissible because they frankly gave up some time around 2015.
And Turkey is an easy case compared to Russia. It's in NATO, not as big, does not have its own nukes, etc, etc.
That was never an option.
> You only had to take a step.
How would that even look like!??
You're talking all the time about Russia refusing some simple steps and not opening enough, but absolutely sounds like these "it's not you it's me" excuses from the friend zone to any Russian. Russians are not stupid as to not being to tell a relationship from a friend zone.
EU is officially declaring that it now has the optimal size, perhaps even too big, but definitely only accepting small countries such as maybe Montenegro in the future. So that is no go from the day one. The path that you are confidently showing as available just does not exist and it never did. Russians didn't even expect it. But there should be some framework dealing with Russian existence on the edge of Europe, and such framework was notoriously absent. We didn't even have short trips visa waiver in 2010. So when 2014 come, there was no carrot that EU could threaten to take away, and Russians are famously imprevious to sticks.
So no Erasmus, and the only back packing option available is in the military camouflage.
Too late for that stuff, anyway. No go win that war that you can't shut up about being winning.
> That's not true, Russian Federation did "participate in European initiatives".
Nowhere near the level of those did who eventually joined the EU (or even EFTA). Even preparing for accession was a major effort that required incredible amount of work to harmonize legislation and actual practices with European standards. We had very little money at the time and severe shortage of people who understood these things. Everything from stock market rules to patient data protection at medical facilities needed a total overhaul. When comparing this with Russia at the same time, it is very clear that while the idea of European integration was floated from time to time, it was never a serious goal with a full national effort behind it. This is what I meant when I said you never made the step.
In the last 30 years, Russia could've easily become a full member of the EU as did almost the entire Eastern Europe. Or if that was too much, then at least join the Schengen Area and European Free Trade Association and peacefully sell oil like Norwegians for good money and let pensioners spend that warming their bones on Mediterranean beaches instead of suffering through cold and dark winters while worrying if their grandchildren return from the war alive. Yesterday I saw statistics that adjusted wealth for the cost of living. In the span of a single lifetime, Norwegians have risen from poor farmers and fishers to the richest people on the planet. This could've been you. The suffering in the 1990s would've had a meaning then as a stepping stone towards much better future, as it's viewed in Central and Eastern Europe.
> It would be interesting to read Kozyrev directly if you've got a link, though.
> Russia was widely open up to the world up and until 2014. It's more open to the world today that you care to admit.
According to V-Dem indicies, which attempt to quantify the rule of law, civil liberties, fairness and freedom of elections, wide representation of interests (instead of narrow groups), and equal access to resources across various groups within a society, Russia was already at the bottom of global ranking in 2013. The way Medvedev was used to keep the seat warm for Putin's another term and protesters were treated in 2011-2013 leaves no doubt how and by whom Russia was run. Certainly not by the people for the people under rules that are equal for all.
> That's false, it was never open. Just take a look what Turkey is doing now. They've spent decades on reading EU's cucumber party regulations and now they've got semi-dictatorship and no longer admissible because they frankly gave up some time around 2015.
When it comes to Turkey, negotiations were always bound to become long and difficult due to unresolved issues around the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, radical muslims in rural Turkey, and a long list of other difficult subjects. There is a fair bit more to chew on than only cucumbers.
Turkey's negotiations for joining the EU began in 2005. V-Dem shows Turkey gradually slipping into authoritarianism after 2008. Negotiations slowed down, stalled in 2016 after the coup attempt in Turkey, and were officially suspended in 2019. I think it is fair when the EU says that political instability and broken economy with 75% inflation rate makes Turkey a poor candidate at the moment. For Eastern Europe too, the main obstacles were economic and political stability criterias.
Last year, main Turkish opposition parties who represent 48% of the electorate reiterated intent to continue working towards European integration. Turkey and Europe have little to lose and a lot to win from seeing Turkey recover and become a stable and prosperous country. The same applies to the relationship with Russia, but with every passing day, you are walking away from Europe, into the loving embrace of the Chinese. When the US and Europe - each a far larger economy than the Russian - are worried about becoming too dependant on China, where does it leave you with barely a tenth of theirs?
> rule of law, civil liberties, fairness and freedom of elections, wide representation of interests (instead of narrow groups), and equal access to resources across various groups within a society, Russia was already at the bottom of global ranking in 2013
I just don't see what essentially any Russian citizen can do about this. If you do not have free elections and no representation of interests, then by definition you cannot also fix that stuff in any fashion. "We think we can treat you poorly because your government also does" is an especially poor sell to Russians.
> negotiations were always bound to become long and difficult due to unresolved issues around the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, radical muslims in rural Turkey, and a long list of other difficult subjects.
The point is, all of these issues also exist in Russia: Unresolved issues around Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as well as North Caucasus insurrections and its radical muslims. So if that didn't work for Turkey in 30 years, it will also not work for Russia. Case closed.
Getting into EU is comparatively easy for a small country, much harder for a larger one and for Russia (or Turkey) it is both impossible and infeasible. Real integration could only come in some other framework, which has never materialized, and as I can see nobody in EU even understands that it needed to be there. If you are an economic and defense bloc accepting new countries in, you should be very careful about countries you're not going to accept, as they rightfully see you as a threat.
I can see that happening easily if Putin loses his war, and all of the options I've ever saw coming from the West drooling with saliva converge to Russia losing.
As Sukhov once said, "I'd prefer to suffer a bit".
> still deserve an empire.
Not sure about Putin, but I don't want one. A nation state would suffice. Crimea is populated by Russians. Everybody speaks Russian in Lugansk, Donetsk and Mariupol. I don't see any utility in a border which separates them from the rest of Russia, or any excuse for it to be where it is. I'm not against any borders at all, just these particular ones.