Putin Says Restoration of USSR Excluded Because It would ‘Critically Change’ Ethnic and Religious Composition of Russia’s Population

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 10 – Putin has often said the disintegration of the USSR was “the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20^th century;” but as the editors of Nezavisimaya Gazeta observer, “he has never called for a restoration of the Soviet Union in any form” although he has said that the former republics should remain close and not link themselves to Russia’s enemies.

            Two recent statements, the editors say, explain why he has adopted that position. On the one hand, his press spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently told journalists that Putin “doesn’t want to restore the USSR because this is impossible” and “to speak about that possibility doesn’t show respect to our partners and allies in the CIS” (ng.ru/editorial/2025-12-10/2_9398_red.html).

            And on the other, in an interview with Indian journalists, Putin himself declared, the newspaper’s editors say, that the restoration of the USSR is “simply excluded” because it would “critically change both the ethnic and the religious composition of the population of the Russian Federation.” (emphasis supplied)

            Nezavisimaya Gazeta suggests that Putin has changed his vocabulary when speaking about this issue in response to the changing domestic and foreign policy situations he finds himself in, sometimes expressing more openly imperialistic and sometimes less imperialistic attitudes.

            But despite that, he has never departed from the view that the USSR cannot be restored – and now he has made clearer than ever before that his reason for advancing that view is not so much his belief that the Soviet system didn’t work but rather because a new USSR would have demographic consequences he doesn’t want – and that would lead to a further disintegration.  

            For a discussion of how that could happen and why Putin feels himself compelled to avoid setting the stage for a third round of the disintegration of the Russian state that those seeking the restoration of the USSR are unwittingly setting the stage for, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/03/putin-thinks-he-is-restoring-soviet.html.

           This is not to say, of course,  that Putin won't pursue the inclusion of parts of other countries like Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan which he believes are naturally part of Russia and whose incorporation would not change the ethnic and religious mix of the Russian Federation to a dangerous degree