Russian civilization is not confined within the boundaries of Russia and goes beyond the borders of nation-states, a geopolitical expert has said.
The comments of Professor Ajay Patnaik, a former dean of the School of International Studies at India's premier Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), came in the context of Russian President Vladimir Putin's remarks wherein he underlined that just like there are no borders for civilizations like India and China, there are no borders for Russia.
"Take a look at how many Chinese people are living all over the world or how many Indians are living all over the world. They all interact with each other, and this is good," the Russian President said in Moscow on Thursday.
In this context, Patnaik said the Russian leader's comments should be understood in a different sense.
People of Indian or Russian Origin are the Responsibility of the Nation-State
Patnaik stressed that there are nation-states today with boundaries, having a sovereign status. But what Putin implied is that beyond the boundaries of these nation-states, there are people of the same nation living in neighboring areas.
"They become a part of the nation's responsibility. Like in the case of Bangladesh, India was hurt when the Bengalis in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) were attacked and killed by the forces of Islamabad," Patnaik told Sputnik India.
He opined that it was creating an emotional impact on the Indian side of the border because the people living in Bangladesh are ethnic brothers of Bengalis living in India.
And this is how Putin's statement should be understood, the strategic affairs analyst emphasized.
Ukraine Failed to Protect People of Russian Ethnicity Within Its Constitutional Framework
"The point is when Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine, one of the main demands of the Russian leadership was that people of Russian ethnicity living in Ukraine should be given autonomy within the constitutional framework of the Eastern European country," Patnaik stated.
The academic highlighted that even the Minsk agreement signed by Ukraine mentioned this aspect. Under the terms of the deal, Kiev agreed to safeguard the rights of the people of Russian origin.
Because their culture, their language, and their ethnicity cannot be violated at will by the government of Ukraine, which may represent the other ethnic groups living in the country.
Moscow Never Demanded Merger of Ukrainian Areas With Large Russian Population
"Russia always said that these minorities should be provided protection under Ukrainian laws and never spoke about merging these parts of Ukraine which have a large Russian-speaking population with the Eurasian sovereign state," the international relations expert added.
However, the Ukrainian authorities under the leadership of Volodymyr Zelensky, have a centralizing tendency to homogenize everybody and this is where the problem started.
"This issue could have been resolved if Ukraine had agreed. It did agree initially but reneged on that promise under pressure from the West. Otherwise, the state of affairs between Russia and Ukraine would have been entirely different, with the West using this conflict as a proxy war against Russia," Patnaik concluded.