Former Mongolia leader Tsakhia Elbegdorj wrote "After Putin's talk. I found Mongolian historic map. Don't worry. We are a peaceful and free nation."
  • Putin has relied on historical borders to argue that Ukraine is part of Russia, justifying the war.
  • Mongolia’s former president shared a map of the Mongol Empire, which included parts of Russia.
  • “After Putin’s talk. I found Mongolian historic map. Don’t worry. We are a peaceful and free nation,” he wrote.

The former president of Mongolia mocked Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend and his focus on history to try to justify his invasion of Ukraine.

Putin has frequently used historical borders to justify his brutal invasion, arguing that Russia has a claim over Ukraine even though Ukraine is an independent country.

In his interview with Tucker Carlson last week, Putin outlined centuries of Russian and European history to justify his invasion. Historians say much of the history he gave doesn’t stand up.

Tsakhia Elbegdorj, who was Mongolia’s president between 2009 and 2017, and was also its prime minister, poked fun at Putin’s argument on X.

    • @[email protected]
      8•5 months ago

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varangians

      The Varangians (/vəˈrændʒiənz/; Old Norse: Væringjar; Medieval Greek: Βάραγγοι, Várangoi;[1][2] Old East Slavic: варяже, varyazhe or варязи, varyazi) were Viking[3] conquerors, traders and settlers, mostly from present-day Sweden.[4][5][6] The Varangians settled in the territories of present-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine from the 8th and 9th centuries, and established the state of Kievan Rus’ as well as the principalities of Polotsk and Turov.

      “Mostly” Sweden. Probably a team effort.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rus'_people

      The first Western European source to mention the Rus’ are the Annals of St. Bertin (Annales Bertiniani).[84] These relate that Emperor Louis the Pious’ court at Ingelheim, in 839, was visited by a delegation from the Byzantine emperor. In this delegation there were men who called themselves Rhos (in the Latin text, … qui se, id est gentem suam, Rhos vocari dicebant, …; translated by Aleksandr Nazarenko as … who stated that they, i.e. their nation, were called Rhos, …). Once Louis enquired the reason of their arrival (in the Latin text, … Quorum adventus causam imperator diligentius investigans, …), he learnt that they were Swedes (eos gentis esse Sueonum; verbatim, their nation is Sveoni).[85][86]

      Hmm. Well, I guess that’s it, then. Sweden gets Russia.

    • Flying Squid
      3•5 months ago

      The whole area was a group of different kingdoms, but Norway and Sweden united under one kingdom in the 11th century, so take your pick.