Putin accuses Austro-Hungarian Monarchy of annexing historic Russian territories

Putin held his annual speech on Tuesday. At one point during the nearly two-hour-long speech, he engaged in a rather interesting reflection on the annexation of their historical territories.

Telex.hu reported on the part of the Russian President’s speech in which he traced the plan to annex Russia’s historical territories back to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

What was Putin implying?

The Russian President has traced back to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy of the 19th century what he is now decrying about the Ukrainians. He said that the West was responsible for the Nazis coming to power in Germany in the 1930s. According to him, the West now wants to turn Ukraine into “anti-Russian”. He said that this plan had been underway for a long time.

Anyone who knows history is aware that the origins of this plan date back to the 19th century, when the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Poland, conceived the idea of taking our historical territories away from us,

the President explained.

He also stressed that Russophobia was and is part of the ideology of the West.

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Telex.hu attempted to find out what exactly he was referring to in his speech. The portal believes he may have been implying that Galicia, which is now part of western Ukraine, was once ruled by the Habsburgs as part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. However, the portal writes, the speech failed to mention that

the Habsburg Empire gained part of Galicia’s territory during the Partitions of Poland in 1772.

In the meantime, alongside the empire, Prussia and Russia also acquired territories in the same way during the partition. The site also recalls that the process of partitioning Poland lasted until 1795 when the entire territory of the country was completely fragmented. Poland regained its independence only after World War I when the monarchy collapsed.

The Russian President is not alone in his views

Putin is not the first to mention the Monarchy recently. On Monday, Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén also drew a link between the present time and the era of the Monarchy. Speaking at the launch of a book written about Maria Theresa (ruler of the Habsburg dominions), he said that the Monarchy was “a much more natural and organic unit than the European Union is today”. He added that it was regrettable that this unity had fallen apart after World War I.

Read alsoPutin accuses Austro-Hungarian Monarchy of annexing historic Russian territories

Source: telex.hu