Kremlin's propagandist demands the return of "Russian" lands
Margarita Simonyan, one of the most prominent Kremlin propagandists and a favourite of Putin, has called for the recovery of "eternally Russian lands" that Lithuania and Poland supposedly took from Russia in the 14th century.
- If we look at our history, we have fought for centuries, from the time of the Mongol yoke, to reclaim our native lands. Our own. Lithuania and Poland took over our western territories, exploiting our weakness during the Tatar-Mongol yoke. We must reclaim them," said Simonyan on the programme "Evening with Vladimir Solovyov" on the channel "Rossiya 1".
Putin's favourite words were quoted by many Russian media, eagerly adding, as the ura.ru service did, a list of lands supposedly taken by Poland and Lithuania. Thus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and later the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, included Black Ruthenia with Grodno, Novogrudok, Slonim, and the Polotsk Principality, now located in Belarus, which is allied with Russia. Additionally, the lands of the Kievan Principality, Volhynia, and Podolia became part of modern-day Ukraine. There is also mention of the temporarily annexed Smolensk Principality, part of present-day Russia.
Simonyan: Russia will not give up its lands
URA.ru also states that Poland itself participated in the territorial expansion of the country at the expense of Russian lands, especially after the Union of Krewo in 1385, when an agreement was made to unite with Lithuania against a common enemy - the Teutonic Order and Moscow, and the Poles "appropriated" the Halych-Volyn Principality and Western Podolia.
In her conversation with Solovyov, the chief Kremlin propagandist did not fail to emphasise that the Russian Federation will not take away other people's lands. She stressed that it would not give up on its own.
