Kadyrov spoke out in favor of Ukraine joining Russia

Ukraine is "our people" and "our territory," said Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov. He said that Ukraine should be annexed to Russia if the current policy of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky continues, and stated that the republic's forces were ready "to leave and carry out the order. "My deep conviction is that if Mr. Zelensky and his team behave this way, Ukraine should be annexed to our country. The Ukrainians are our people, it's our territory," Mr. Kadyrov said during a press conference. According to him, he would have annexed Chechnya to Ukraine "if I had been instructed", but now such decisions are not allowed by "state agreements". The head of Chechnya accused Western countries of intending to place military bases in Ukraine and thereby dictate conditions to Russia. "I am sure our president will not allow this. And we, the infantry, are ready to leave and carry out the order absolutely without any problems," he said. Kommersant english version. It should be noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin, against the backdrop of the conflict with Ukraine, expressed his views on the history of the Ukrainian state and people. In an article published in July, he stated that Russians and Ukrainians are one people, after which he repeated this position. During his final press conference in December, the Russian president said that Ukraine was created by Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the USSR. Amid expectations of a Russian invasion of Ukraine expressed by the United States and European countries, the parties are considering sanctions against Russia. Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Alexei Danilov called on Western countries to impose preventive sanctions against Russia. According to Bloomberg, Russia continued to build up troops on its border with Ukraine amid demands for security guarantees.