Putin compares his actions to those of Peter the Great
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin compared his current actions with Peter the Great’s conquest of the Baltic coast during his 18th-century war against Sweden.
After visiting an exhibition in Moscow dedicated to Tsar Peter the Great’s 350th birthday, Putin told a group of young entrepreneurs that “one gets the impression that by fighting Sweden he seized something. He took nothing, he took it back.”
When Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg and declared it the Russian capital, “none of the countries in Europe recognized this territory as belonging to Russia,” Putin said.
“Everyone thought it was part of Sweden. But since time immemorial, slaves had lived there with Finno-Ugric peoples,” the Russian leader added.
“It is also our responsibility to take back and strengthen,” Putin said, referring to Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
“Yes, there have been times in our country’s history when we have been forced to retreat, but only to regain our strength and move forward,” he said.
Sweden’s defeat in the Great Northern War (1700-1721) made Russia the leading power in the Baltic Sea and an important player in European affairs.
But with ties Russia’s ties with the West, which are currently fragmented by Ukraine’s invasion, Moscow authorities are toning down Peter’s affinity for Europe and focusing on his role in expanding Russian territories.
More than three centuries after he tried to bring Russia closer to Europe, the Russians on Thursday celebrated Tsar Peter the Great’s 350th birthday with the country deeply isolated over the Ukraine conflict.
Peter I reigned first as tsar and then as emperor from 1682 until his death in 1725.