He (and/or his people) have talked a lot about annexing at least part of Poland. Less sure about the Baltics, but I think there's been some yapping about them too.

So, yeah, if you listen to what he and his people say, his motivations are not in doubt...

> He (and/or his people) have talked a lot about annexing at least part of Poland.

Do you have a source?

I'd like to see one as well. I've heard that claim so often but apart from some Russian TV propagandists who have as much impact on Russian politicians as Tucker Carlson on US policy there's nothing official.

Not offhand, no. I'm going by memory from remarks by... might have been Medvedev, might have been the defense chief or somebody like that. Not officially Putin, but pretty close to a Putin mouthpiece. This would have been within the last two or three months.

So I did a search, and I found this: https://www.newsweek.com/putin-ally-says-poland-next-ukraine...

It's a close Putin ally in the legislature, saying that Poland is next after Ukraine. This is in January 2024.

(Of course, my same search turns up Putin saying that Russia will not invade Poland. But he also said that they wouldn't invade Ukraine, so I don't think we should believe him. But now I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth, because I said that we should believe him when he said he would invade.

But, in short, yes, at least some of Putin's close allies have at least sometimes said that Russia will invade Poland.)

EU countries including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and eastern Poland have been part of the Russian nation at some point since “ancient Rus”. What makes you think Putin doesn’t want them back?

Kaliningrad sits there right in the middle of EU and NATO. That’s got to sting him. Trump’s second term will be his ticket to take a stab at fixing this geopolitical blemish, the mote in the Eastern god’s eye.

I don't know, do you see Germany trying to reclaim territory right now? Is Austria laying claim to Hungary? What kind of argument is this?

If you haven't noticed, Russia is actively reclaiming territory it claims as historically Russian. Why does it stop at Ukraine?

Firstly, he has said so many times.

Secondly, he's a lying sack of shit.

Third. Don't be a useful idiot.

> He has said so many times.

Source?

I don't see anyone calling you a NAFO shill, why do you feel entitled to calling others useful idiots?

How do you determine who is lying though?

By matching claims with observations from reality. When someones claims don't match reality, they are lying.

Wait, first you claimed Putin said many times that he wants to conquer eastern Europe, and now you say the Russians are (falsely) claiming they don't want to conquer eastern Europe, and that I am repeating this lie of theirs. Which is it? Do they claim to want to conquer eastern Europe, or not?

Putin is not lying when he fabricates historic claims and of howls about how Russia has been victimized - this delusion is his honest believe. But Russians lie when they say that they don't want to attack any other countries. Just how Putin lied when they said that they are not going to violently attack Ukraine.

However; strategic ambiguity is part of Russian hybrid warfare. Just see how it went in Ukraine.

First they said they don't have any interest in Ukraine, that Ukraine is sovereign. Then the Russians invade Crimea, while claiming that the "green men" are not Russian soldiers. Then they tacitly admit that some Russian soldiers might have been involved. Then they brag about how they took Crimea.

Same same in the Donbas.

Meanwhile Putin is playing the victim card and making claims on all and every territory that once was the Rus' dominion, even though the "Russian Federation" itself has little to do with the Rus' of Kyiv or Ruritania or Galicia.

All the while his mouthpieces are both threatening the whole of Europe with nuclear fire and "de-nazification".

I don't what Russia is aiming at. In my eyes the whole country has gone mad with a fatal case of imperial delusion that will only end with the nation itself, similar to how the 3rd Reich only died with Nazi Germany.

What I do know is that anyone repeating any Russian claims is an imperialistic useful idiot.

My advise - don't be a useful idiot.