Attempts to split Russian society have failed, and President Vladimir Putin, who worked for years to achieve this, should be thanked. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
The statement was made by Leonid Kalashnikov, head of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, according to RIA Novosti.
«It is, of course, good to say that they failed to split us and will not succeed. Because he worked hard for this for years,» Kalashnikov said.
He recalled that in February 1917 the country «fell apart,» and the outskirts populated by nationalities disintegrated, while the Bolsheviks reunited them by force of arms and certain beliefs.
According to the committee head, in 1991 it all began with nationalist movements that declared «we will not feed the Russians.»
Kalashnikov also said that Ukraine was unlucky with its leadership, and nationalists seized power in the country. According to him, past experience shows that Russia and Ukraine are one people.
«We should thank the Soviet Union, which never destroyed a single language or culture and published books. If the first secretary is Russian, then the second is Buryat. If the first is Buryat, then the second is Russian. Even the Soviet Union attached great importance to such trifles,» the parliamentarian said.