US suspects President Putin wants to restore the Soviet Union

Speaking at a hearing in the US Senate, Ms. Nuland emphasized: "There are concerns that in his legacy project, (President) Putin is aiming to restoreSoviet Union, and who knows if he will find the food he has eaten to his liking, or decide to go further"?

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: AFP

Nuland warned Russia against carrying out its plans to invade Ukraine, warning that a confrontation with a modernized Ukrainian army would be bloody. "There are many reasons why none of us want war," Nuland said. "It would be bloody and difficult for Ukraine, but it would be bloody and difficult for Russia."

“Russia is much bigger, their army is much bigger, but Ukraine is better prepared now (than in 2014). There are also a lot of people in Ukraine who have gone through the military and returned to civilian life,” she said. Nuland also said that Ukrainians’ perceptions of Russia have changed significantly in recent years. “I think the level of support, the level of friendly feelings of the Ukrainian people towards Russia is now at a historical ‘record’ level of 12% or so,” Nuland said sarcastically.

In June, the Russian leader noted that restoring the Soviet Union was pointless and unreasonable. Putin also recalled that when the Soviet Union collapsed, its core - historical Russia - lost almost half of its industrial and economic potential, as well as the same proportion of its population and a significant part of its industrially and economically important territory, with a developed infrastructure, into which the country had invested resources for hundreds of years./.