Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the purpose of the special military operation is to eliminate the anti-Russian enclave that is being created on the territory of Ukraine, Interfax reported.

"An anti-Russian enclave has begun to be created on the territory of today's Ukraine, which threatens our country. Therefore, our guys, who are fighting there, protect both the residents of Donbass, and protect Russia itself. And this, of course, deserves the support of the entire society," the head of state said during a conversation with schoolchildren at the open class "Conversation about important things" in Kaliningrad.

Speaking about accusations of aggression by Russia against Ukraine, Putin said: "Everyone thinks that some kind of aggression by Russia is happening today, no one knows or understands that after the 2014 coup d'etat in Ukraine, residents of Donetsk, Luhansk, in large part, at least in Crimea, did not want to recognize the results of this coup."

Noting that all of this is "not exactly a childish topic, but it's understandable enough," the president said that "a war was actually started against them, eight years of it."

"Our task, our mission, the soldiers, the Donbass militia - to stop this war, to protect people and, of course, to protect Russia itself," Putin said.

He made a brief historical excursion into the past, noting that "Ukraine never had statehood before the formation of the Soviet Union."

"There was no such state. After the 1917 revolution, all sorts of quasi-states were created, and then during the formation of the Soviet Union, Ukraine arose. The Communist Party, which was in power then, formed union republics, transferring to Ukraine a large part of the historical Russian territories, including Donbass, although the residents of Donbass did not want this. And this is evidenced by documents," Putin said.

According to him, first Luhansk and Donetsk (then the Krivoy Rog Republic) were to become part of Russia. "And then Vladimir Ilyich Lenin said: We have to re-decide. And they gave it to the forming Ukraine. And no one there knows it," the president added.

02 September 2022 / 11:54