Putin's 'new Russian empire'
- By Cui Heng
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E-mail China.org.cn, May 3, 2014
Russian President Vladimir Putin brought up the term "New Russia" (Novorossiya) in a recent question-and-answer TV show, drawing a spate of interpretations from within Russia and abroad.
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Putin's "New Russia" refers more to a community of shared history, language, culture, and identity than a nationalist aspiration. [File photo] |
The term describes a large area stretching from eastern and southern Ukraine to Russia, with a shared history, language, culture and identity.
Putin did not clarify the exact meaning of the newly coined term, thus inspiring interpretations including geopolitical opinions, Eurasianist readings and even from people who espouse the Orthodox Church. The multiple readings reflect what is in the mind of the Russian elite and intellectuals.
Putin did not apply a nationalistic connotation to the term, but placed more emphasis on the more general concept of a shared history and common destiny. It is not an expression of traditional Russian chauvinism, but is more based on Russian national interest and historical lineage.
Putin used the term in a nationally televised question-and-answer session to refer to the current situation in Ukraine. There were discussions about the "New Europe" concept during the process of the European Union's expansion to the east. The middle and eastern European nations, closely watched by pro-Europeans, attempted to join the EU. Similarly, pro-Russians in eastern and southern Ukraine are now also trying to cement their ties with, or even join Russia. Therefore, southeastern and western Ukraine are to a certain extent divided. Russian Eurasianist Aleksandr Dugin even predicted that Ukraine as a nation may not exist in a few decades' time. Exaggeration though this argument may seem, it does hold some truth, as a shared identity is fundamental to a nation.
Where indeed has Ukraine's own national identity gone if a "New Europe" and a "New Russia" dominate different parts of the nation? In fact, it has never been established.
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