Photo: Truthmeter.mk

This article was first published by Truthmeter.mk (North Macedonia), within the framework of Western Balkans Anti-Disinformation Project.

Although Moscow is trying to obscure the truth with its narratives of denazification, of some kind of genocide against the Russian people in Ukraine, and even of eliminating some root causes of the conflict, the real reason for Putin’s military aggression is his refusal to accept the existence of Ukraine and Ukrainians as a sovereign nation. For Putin and his regime, Ukraine’s democracy, its aspirations for EU and NATO membership, and its cultural independence represent an existential threat to the authoritarian model they have built

Author: Ana Anastasovska

While all eyes are on Russia and Ukraine and the possible end to the three-year war, Moscow’s representatives constantly, when talking about a possible peace, repeat the same phrase—the necessity of resolving and eliminating the “root causes of the conflict.”

Thus, the Embassy of the Russian Federation in North Macedonia announced on May 15 that President Vladimir Putin on May 11 put forward an initiative to resume direct negotiations (those held in Istanbul on May 15), suspended by the Kyiv regime under the influence of then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the spring of 2022.

As Putin emphasized, the core of these negotiations is “eliminating the root causes of the conflict, establishing a long-term lasting peace for the historical perspective.”

After the negotiations in Istanbul, which ended only with an agreement on the exchange of prisoners and nothing concrete about a possible ceasefire, the head of the Russian delegation for negotiations with Ukraine, Vladimir Medinsky, stated, among other things :

The goal of direct negotiations with the Ukrainian side is to establish long-term peace and eliminate the root causes of the conflict.

Putin, in a phone conversation with his American counterpart Donald Trump on February 12, also mentioned the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term solution can be achieved through peaceful negotiations.

Macedonian media outlets also report on the “root causes of the conflict”

Pro-Kremlin rhetoric about eliminating the root causes of the conflict was also found across Macedonian media outlets, with no greater importance and explanation to these “root causes.”

Libertas on April 12, 2025, reporting a statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the Diplomacy Forum in Antalya, southern Turkey, in which he praised Trump for understanding the conflict in Ukraine better than other Western leaders, wrote:

When we speak about eliminating root causes of any conflict, including the Ukrainian conflict, this is the only way to resolve the problem and to establish long-lasting peace—remove root causes.

President Trump was the first and so far I think almost the only one among the Western leaders who repeatedly, with conviction, several times stated that it was a huge mistake to pull Ukraine into NATO. This is one of the root causes which we quoted so many times.

Lavrov’s statement, citing RIA Novosti, was also reported by Fokus:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today that the only way to resolve the problem and achieve sustainable peace in Ukraine is to eliminate the root causes of the conflict. Speaking at the Diplomacy Forum in Antalya, Turkey, Lavrov said that US President Donald Trump is one of the few Western leaders who understands that the Ukrainian conflict can only be resolved by eliminating its root causes.

TRN on May 15, 2025, reported a statement by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who also mentioned the “root causes of the conflict.”

According to the spokesman for the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, Russia remains committed to “seriously searching for ways to achieve a long-term peaceful solution.” He stated that the goals of the proposed negotiations with Ukraine are to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and secure Russian interests.

What lies behind the phrase “eliminating the root causes of the conflict”?

By presenting the narrative that Moscow is committed to a serious search for ways to achieve a long-term peaceful solution and that the goal of negotiations with Ukraine is to eliminate the root causes of the conflict , while on the other hand, the West wants the war to continue and there to be no peace, the Kremlin is actually trying to create the false impression that Russia is the reasonable party seeking a solution, while at the same time hiding its true goals. In fact, Moscow’s definition of “root causes” invariably includes demands for Ukraine to surrender  its sovereignty, accept territorial losses, and submit to Kremlin control, EUvsDisinfo writes in its analysis.

EuvsDisinfo identifies three strategic goals for the Kremlin’s manipulation of the “root causes of the conflict” narrative. First, the Kremlin hopes international audiences will forget that Russia had already violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity back in 2014 before it unilaterally launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Second, it sets up impossible preconditions for peace. When Russia talks about addressing the “root causes,” it is actually asking for Ukraine’s surrender disguised as diplomacy. Third, it buys time. As Russia continues to face challenges on the battlefield, this narrative provides diplomatic cover while its military regroups, recruits, and prepares for renewed offensives.

Putin denies Ukrainian identity and existence–everything else is an excuse

Although Moscow is trying to obscure the truth with its narratives of denazification, of some kind of genocide against the Russian people in Ukraine, and even of eliminating some root causes of the conflict, the real reason for Putin’s military aggression is his refusal to accept the existence of Ukraine and Ukrainians as a sovereign nation.

In an essay published in 2021 a few months before the invasion, titled “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” Putin explicitly denies Ukraine’s legitimacy as an independent nation.

In it, he elaborates on his claim that Ukrainians and Russians are “one people.” For example, Putin argues that Ukraine did not exist as a separate state and was never a nation. Instead, he argues, Ukrainian nationality has always been an integral part of a triple nationality: Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian. Putin also writes that Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians share a common heritage—the legacy of the kingdom known as Kyivan Rus’ (862–1242), which was a loose medieval political federation located in present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and part of Russia.

Putin also spoke in 2019 about how Russians and Ukrainians constitute one nation and that the countries need to find a way to integrate. The Russian president made these comments in an interview with American film director Oliver Stone on June 19, 2019. The interview material was used in Stone’s film about Ukraine, and the full transcript was released by the Kremlin.

“I believe that Russians and Ukrainians are one people … one nation, in fact. When these lands that are now the core of Ukraine joined Russia … nobody thought of themselves as anything but Russians. In light of this bond, we can use this as our competitive advantage during some form of integration,” Putin said.

For Putin and his regime, Ukraine’s democracy, its aspirations for EU and NATO membership, and its cultural independence pose an existential threat to the authoritarian model they have built.

Recognising this fundamental reality is crucial to understanding how and why the Kremlin manipulates the information space in the context of any peace negotiations. Any framework that accepts the Kremlin’s deceptive “root causes” premise is not a pathway to peace, but a blueprint for Ukraine’s dismemberment and subjugation, concludes EUvsDisinfo.