Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to insist yet again that Ukraine was created by the USSR and "no Ukraine" existed before that.

Source: Russian media outlet RBC, reporting on an item broadcast on the TV channel Russia 24

Details: Putin weighed in on the "non-existent Ukraine" during a meeting with Valery Zorkin, the chairman of the Constitutional Court.

Zorkin had brought Putin a copy of a map which, according to him, was compiled by the French during the time of Louis XIV, in the mid-17th century. He said he had brought it to Putin to show that "there is no Ukraine there" – only the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, "Cossackia", and the Kingdom of Muscovy. 

Putin responded by saying "This is common knowledge."

Quote from Putin: "These lands were simply part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and then they were asked to become part of the Kingdom of Muscovy… And it was only later, after the October Revolution, that quasi-state formations began to form. The Soviet government created Soviet Ukraine. There was never any Ukraine in the history of humanity up to that point."

For reference: In the 17th century, Russia was known as the Kingdom of Muscovy; in 1721, it was transformed into the Russian Empire.

Background:

• Putin has repeatedly articulated pseudo-historical theses claiming that Ukraine was invented during the creation of the USSR. In September 2022, for example, he mentioned this during a meeting with school students.

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