Russian strategist Surkov predicts boundless expansion
Vladislav Surkov, a former close advisor to Vladimir Putin, declared that Russia "will spread out in all directions," and the so-called Russian world (russkiy mir) "has no boundaries," as noted in a recent analysis by the American think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Surkov, once considered one of the strategists of Russian policy towards Kyiv, stated in an interview with the French weekly "L'Express" that a Russian victory in the war would be "military or military and diplomatic crushing of Ukraine" and the "division of this artificial quasi-state into its natural fragments."
"Russkiy mir"
He mentioned that this is Moscow's strategic goal, unchanged since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He emphasized that Russia will achieve it, even if there are "slowdowns" along the way. He added that bringing Ukraine back into the Russian sphere of influence has been a goal for Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Surkov, who was Putin's advisor until 2020, also mentioned that after the alleged division, Ukraine might "perhaps" exist as a "real state" in the future, but in a much smaller form. According to the ideologue of "Novorossiya," Europe is allegedly to be involved in the future division of Ukraine.
Russia "will spread out in all directions"
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov defined "Novorossiya" as the entire eastern and southern Ukraine, including the Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, and Odessa regions—in addition to the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, which are already fully or partially controlled by Russia.
When asked about Russia's boundaries, Surkov replied that the ideology of the Russian world "has no boundaries" and exists wherever Russian influences are present. He stated that Russian influences vary depending on the region, but they are "never zero." The former high-ranking Kremlin representative asserted that Russia "will spread out in all directions."
Russia refers to the so-called Russian-speaking cultural community of former USSR countries as the "russkiy mir." As ISW emphasized, the Kremlin uses the ideology of the "Russian world" to justify military interventions abroad.
Experts pointed out that Surkov's statements about Russia's claims on eastern and southern Ukraine and further expansion of the "russkiy mir" contradict recent assessments by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. An associate of President Donald Trump assured that Russia's territorial claims do not extend beyond Crimea and the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions.
ISW noted that in a tone similar to Surkov's, Vladimir Putin and other high-ranking Russian authorities have recently expressed views that Moscow wants to regain control not only over Ukraine but also possibly other neighboring countries, to weaken the West and strengthen the Kremlin's influence.
The Russian side emphasizes that a future peace agreement with Kyiv must eliminate the "root causes" of the war. So far, the Kremlin, when discussing the "causes" it has used to justify the invasion of Ukraine, has effectively questioned the existence of an independent Ukrainian state.
On March 10, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the "causes of the war" are "threats to Russia's security from the Ukrainian and Western directions in general," which result from NATO's expansion eastward and the alleged destruction by the Ukrainian government of everything related to "Russia and the 'russkiy mir.'"
