The Return of Novorossiya?!?

A glimpse into Vladimir Putin's ultimate ambition

If you’re relatively new to the issues related to Kremlin propaganda and how it’s affecting other countries (including the United States), I recommend reading some background posts I wrote that explains things in more detail along with links to other sites where you can read more to educate yourself.

Last weekend I did what I hope will be the final update of the death of the American-born Russian propagandist Russell “Texas” Bentley where I ended that post with a video where he sang “Sweet Home Novorossiya.”

I have to admit that it's a pretty kick-ass song but that's because he basically swiped the melody from Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic “Sweet Home Alabama.”

When you go back in history, you'd know that Novorossiya (which means New Russia) was a name used during the days of the Russian Empire to denote the region that would later become part of Ukraine, which included Crimea and the region immediately north of both Crimea and the Black Sea. That name ceased to be used after 1917 when the entire area minus Crimea became part of the short-lived independent nation of the Ukrainian People's Republic.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the independence of Ukraine, and the rise of Vladimir Putin, the dream of the revival of Novorossiya became closer to reality after Russia annexed Crimea and the Donbass region. The Russian-installed leaders of the oblasts in the affected areas of the Donbass—Donetsk and Luhansk—declared the creation of the confederation of the two oblasts into a new Novorossiya in 2014. Since Bentley moved into Donetsk in 2014 (and he lived there until he was killed earlier this year by the same Russian forces that he supported) it's easy to see why he would feel inspired to write the lyrics of “Sweet Home Novorossiya” and record that song.

For a year the two oblasts worked on merging together into a modern-day Novorossiya only to abandon the project in 2015. The issue of the revival of Novorossiya seemed to be further put to rest in 2022 when the Donbass region was formally incorporated into Russia (but is not recognized by a vast majority of the other nations on Earth—especially Ukraine).

Now the issue of reviving Novorossiya has reared its head again this week when these photos of the setup of an upcoming outdoor concert in Moscow's Red Square included signs that translate as “Together Forever: Russia, Novorossiya, Donbass.”

As the man behind the Vatnik Soup website Pekka Kallioniemi has warned: “The title of this propaganda concert gives us a glimpse of Putin’s plan: Novorossiya is a historical name for the regions north of Crimea, including oblasts of Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk. This suggests, that if not stopped, Putin will not back down until he controls the entire Southern and Eastern Ukraine.”

At least that upcoming concert has given the world a glimpse into Putin’s mindset on why he has refused to give up on his invasion of Ukraine. He ultimately wants to recreate the old Russian Empire, which would include a revived Novorossiya. It's the same reason why Putin wants the US to give Alaska back to Russia, although there's no way in hell that will ever happen as long as the US maintains a strong defense, including its nuclear arsenal.

This is why it's useless to pressure Ukraine into giving up some of its territories to Russia because it is not going to lead to peace. All you have to do is take a look back at what happened when Adolf Hitler got his way on the Sudentenland issue—it eventually led to World War II.

My blog is free to subscribe but if you want to make a comment, you’ll need to take out a paid subscription. Click on the button below for more details.