In early April, the Kremlin’s goal — the dismantling of Ukraine—was discussed in an article titled “What Should Russia Do with Ukraine?” notes Mariupol-born Olexiy Minakov, a columnist for leading Ukrainian online media outlets including Radio Liberty, Ukrayinska Pravda, NV, and LIGA.net:
Written by Kremlin-aligned commentator Timofey Sergeytsev and published by Russia’s state-owned news agency RIA Novosti, the essay charges that “a significant part of the masses” and the “Ukrainian man in the street” are “accomplices of Nazism” and must be subjected to “total lustration,” “re-education,” and “de-Ukrainization” while under Russian military occupation in a territory organized into “people’s republics” that will replace all of Ukraine except perhaps a western rump (which may itself also be subject to Russian occupation).
Is this the blueprint for Putin’s “final solution” to the Ukraine question? Minakov writes in Putin’s Incredible Shrinking Victory Parade, an article for the Journal of Democracy. RTWT
