In a room full of generals and high-ranking military commanders on Wednesday, the Russian head of state Vladimir Putin He once again resorted to a concept that has become the central axis of his foreign policy and the greatest challenge to European security since the Second World War: the “historical regions” of Russia.
Speech to the board of the Ministry of Defense: Putin assured that Russia “will liberate its historic country” by military means if diplomacy does not achieve its goals. Far from being a simple nostalgic reference, this phrase represents a Boundary review doctrine which, according to Western analysts and leaders, is not just putting the spotlight on Ukrainebut possibly also for Baltic republicsHe Caucasus And Central Asia.
For Putin, The map of the current Russian Federation is an anomalya geographical error a legacy from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Instead, the Kremlin promotes the concept of “Historic Russia” (Istoricheskaya Rossiya), a flowing territory that coincides with the borders of the Tsarist Empire Moscow claims the right to “reunification”.
The intellectual foundation of this campaign can be found in the 5,000 word essay published by Putin in July 2021 with the title “On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians”. The president argued in it Ukraine It is a “Product of the Soviet era” and that the true sovereignty of this country “This is only possible in partnership with Russia”, A thesis that has been analyzed by experts as a first step towards a dead-end neo-imperial project.
The document presented the thesis that They are Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians “a city” (Odin Narod). The administrative boundaries drawn by the Bolsheviks in the 20th century followed this logic “Gifts of the Russian People” delivered to republics that previously had no state base.
“Russia was stolen”he repeated Putin several times, referring to the loss of territory after 1991. He used this argument to justify the invasion in 2022 and the subsequent annexation of four Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – which he now officially describes in state documents as “New federal subjects on their historic land“.
Within these historical regions is the concept of New Russia either “New Russia.” This term dates back to the 18th century under the rule of Catherine the Greatincludes a strip of land extending from there Kharkov until Odessaborders on the whole Black Sea.
In the Kremlin’s speech, these countries were never Ukrainian. Putin claims that they were conquered from the Ottomans by Russian generals and settled by Russian settlers. When called New Russiathe Russian president not just industrial Donbas claimsbut it projects a Ambitions that would block Ukraine’s access to the seawhich made it an unprofitable state and under the control of Moscow.
CrimeaAnnexed in 2014, occupies a sacred place in this geography. Putin describes it as the “Russian Chersonese” and compares it with that Temple Mount in Jerusalem as the place where, according to tradition, Prince Vladimir, the unifier of the Kievan Rus. His “return” in 2014 was presented as the first step toward correction the “geopolitical catastrophe” of 1991.
This historical vision has recently taken a legal turn questions the existence of the independent states that emerged after the Cold War. Kremlin advisor in May 2025 Anton Kobiakovescalated the rhetoric by saying that “The USSR still legally exists”on the grounds that their dissolution in 1991 was a flawed process.
According to Kobiakov, the Belovezhskaya agreements, the treaty that declared the dissolution of the Soviet Union, They are “absolutely strange” and they lack legitimacy. This would change the invasion of Ukrainefrom the perspective of Moscownot in an international war, but in one “internal process” a Soviet state that officially never ceased to exist.
The threat Europe becomes more tangible when Putin extends this concept to NATO member states. In June 2022, while visiting an exhibition about Tsar Peter the Great, Putin made a comparison that shocked the Baltic capitals.
Referring to the Tsar’s conquest of territories in the Baltics in the 18th century: Putin stated: “It seemed like Pedro was taking something from Sweden. He wasn’t taking anything, he was taking back what belonged to Russia.”. Then he added, in a tone that many interpreted as a warning Estonia, Latvia And Lithuania: “Now it seems to be up to us to recover and strengthen ourselves”.
This “recovery” doctrine was reiterated in June 2025 during the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, when Putin He uttered a phrase that resonated throughout Eurasia: “There is an old rule: Wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, he is ours.”.
The reach of “historic regions” does not end in Europe. KazakhstanRussia’s largest ally in Central Asia has watched with growing concern as the Kremlin questions its right to exist.
Already in 2014 Putin said the Kazakhs “never had a state” before the fall of the USSR.. In 2024 and 2025, lawmakers and commentators on Russian state television, which is often used to gauge responses, have suggested this Northern Kazakhstan is “Russian land” due to its Russian-speaking population.
For Putin, Any country that was once part of the Russian Empire and now tries to move away from Moscow’s sphere of influence is considered a usurper.. “If a republic wants to leave the Union, it should leave with what it brought with it, not with the gifts of the Russian people,” he wrote in his 2021 essay. Since almost all of these states expanded territorially under Russian or Soviet administration, Putin’s logic would require them to return much of their current geography.
One of the most important steps in this strategy was the Russian constitutional amendment in 2022. By declaring that the occupied Ukrainian territories are now an integral part of Russia, Putin has created a legal “point of no return.”. This phenomenon is part of what some scholars call the end of the taboo on land grabbing in Russian politics.
According to Russian law, any negotiation regarding the return of these lands constitutes a violation of the territorial integrity of the state. This has transformed a war of aggression into a “war of defense” in the official narrative.. When Putin threatens to “use”all available means“(including the nuclear arsenal) for the defense of Russian territory refers to these newly annexed “historical regions.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia headed by Sergey Lavrovcodified this vision in the Foreign policy concept 2023which defines Russia not as an ordinary country, but as “State civilization”.
According to this doctrine, the sovereignty of Russia does not stop at its UN recognized borders, but extends to what the Kremlin called the “Russian World” (Russkiy Mir). This room includes anyone who speaks Russianshare the Orthodox faith or have cultural ties to them Moscow.
He Institute for War Research (ISW), based in WashingtonHe has repeatedly warned that this rhetoric backfires “Prepare the information space for long-term aggression”. The ISW stated this in its report from December 2025 Putin’s focus on “historic countries” shows that he has no intention of stopping at the current front linesbut rather strives for a complete redesign of the European order.
For the neighbors of Russiaout of Poland until KazakhstanThe message is clear: in Vladimir Putin’s vision, the current borders are only suggestions, and History is the only law that Moscow is willing to recognize.
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