Putin compares himself to Peter the Great, a Russian tsar from the 18th century

Vladimir Putin’s admiration for Peter the Great is well-known, but he now appears to have his own notions of “Greatness.”

He has openly compared himself to the Russian tsar, equating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine today with Peter’s expansionist wars three centuries ago, and admitting that his own war is a land grab in his strongest statement yet. Mr Putin’s apparent empire-building ambitions are bad news for Ukraine, and his comments have enraged other neighbours, including Estonia, which called them “completely unacceptable.”

When the remarks were made, Russia’s president was meeting with young scientists and entrepreneurs. Prior to discussing IT and tech development, he discussed politics and power, specifically the new battle for geopolitical dominance that he sees. He told his small audience that Peter the Great was a role model in that speech.

“You might think he was fighting with Sweden, seizing their lands,” Mr Putin said, referring to Peter’s Northern Wars, which he launched as he forged a new Russian Empire at the turn of the 18th century. “But he didn’t seize anything; he reclaimed it!” he argued, pointing out that Slavs had lived in the area for centuries.

Mr Putin concluded, “It appears it has fallen to us, too, to reclaim and strengthen,” with a near-smirk that made it clear he was referring to Ukraine and his goals there. He claimed that Peter’s rule was proof that Russia had grown stronger as a result of its expansion.

Mr Putin has been citing Russia’s past a lot lately, and it’s always been carefully curated to suit his current cause. He wrote a massive essay several months before launching his attack on Ukraine in which he essentially argued against the country’s historical right to exist. When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Putin falsely claimed that the invasion was a “special operation” limited to the eastern Donbas region in order to “de-Nazify” Ukraine and reduce the perceived threat to Russia.

Putin is selective in his use of history. Though a ruthless autocrat, Peter the Great was a huge admirer of Western ideas, science, and culture, famously constructing St Petersburg as a “window on Europe” and travelling the continent in search of knowledge to aid Russia’s modernization.

Putin’s increasingly repressive rule gradually shut that window to the West, and the war in Ukraine has slammed it shut completely. The idea of a Russian leader visiting Holland or Greenwich in search of ideas and inspiration, as the Tsar did in the past, now seems implausible. A series of words flashed up behind them as Putin lectured the young entrepreneurs on an 18th century tsar: ‘future,’ ‘confident,’ and ‘victory.’

In the face of Western condemnation and sanctions, Russia is determined to project defiance, and Putin himself appeared relaxed rather than threatened. However, history may have taught us something else.

From the Baltics to the Black Sea, Peter the Great eventually conquered land. Russia, on the other hand, had been fighting its Great Northern War for 21 years.

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