Putin claims more Ukrainians live in Russia than Ukraine
Vladimir Putin held his annual conference, where he answered a series of meticulously selected questions beforehand. At one point, he addressed Ukrainians, and some bizarre statements were made.
Much of the information provided by Russian media or government representatives is part of the propaganda. Such reports are elements of the information war conducted by the Russian Federation.
Putin claimed that there might be as many Ukrainians living in Russia as in Ukraine, if not more. "I'm not joking," he said.
"This may mean that the people living in the new territories, such as Crimea and those who have moved to us, might number even 1 million people. Overall, we have roughly the same number of Ukrainians living in Ukraine," he attempted to persuade.
After a moment, he added, "And by the way, we invite them. These are people of our culture, essentially part of our nation."
- "We are interested in highly qualified workers coming to the country, and, by the way, those who are simply promoters of our traditional values," Putin stated.
