On 12 July 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin published a historical essay titled “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians.” He frames the essay as a follow-up to a comment he made on “Direct Line,” the annual call-in show where Putin answers questions from constituents. On this occasion, Putin characterized Russians and Ukrainians as “a single people” [Rus. voobshche odin narod]. Expanding on his original comment, the Russian president offers a version of historical events suggesting that today’s ruptures between Russians and Ukrainians have no basis in reality, but are instead rooted in artificial divisions constructed and exploited by both foreign powers and the Soviet Union.

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The uncanny, c’est nous!

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I’m making up the introduction as I’m going along

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The medieval future, far from being always dystopian, might not even be that bad.

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The Soviet conditional subjunctive is the result of a collective act of will

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No one is at all bothered by the idea of paradoxes resulting from the deaths of butterflies, grandfathers, or Hitlers

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Voting Putin back into the presidency made the equation between past and future more literal

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The manipulation of Russian historical precedent for present-day political gain is rather clear-cut

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The outcome of a Time of Troubles is a foregone conclusion

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On or about December 1991, the normal course of time in Russia stopped.

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