Україна | Ukraine 🇺🇦

ARussian propagandist has called for the reinstatement of the Russian Empire, saying that's the country's ultimate goal.

As Russia continues its military offensive against Ukraine, Russian propagandist Sergey Mardan alluded to a misconception that Russia wishes to restore the USSR, which collapsed in 1991, and instead suggested the country could rewind the clock back beyond the days of the Russian Empire.

His comments come as President Vladimir Putin announced a new Russian holiday, the "Day of Unification," on September 30, to mark the illegal annexation of the Dontesk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine. Putin declared them to be new Russian territory a year ago, following referendums not acknowledged under international law and he entrenched the move in the Russian constitution. He made a similar move after the illegal annexation of Crimea, which is celebrated in Russia on March 18.

Speaking on his show, Mardan Live, he mentioned the new state holiday, saying it will be "celebrated with trepidation," claiming that Russia is now "discovering its purpose," while admitting this is "yet to be defined." He defined the holiday as a cause for celebration as it marks Russia's supposed journey to restoring itself into an empire.

The Russian empire, otherwise known as Imperial Russia, was the final period of the Russian monarchy lasting from 1721 until its dissolution in 1917. The empire expanded over much of northern Eurasia, encompassing almost one-sixth of Earth's landmass. Modern day countries within in the territory included Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Poland and Georgia.

According to a translation by Russian Media Monitor, Mardan said Russia's "ideology is being born right now." He continued: "They call it the restoration of the Soviet Union. They say 'Putin wants to restore the USSR'. For any Russian person, for any person of Russian culture it sounds bizarre. For anyone who understands the retrospective of our national consciousness for the last 1,000 years. For us, the restoration of the USSR sounds a bit funny. What Soviet Union? Wake up!"

He goes on to say Russia is capable of rewinding the clock 800 years to restore the Russian Empire. "We can rewind it by 800 years more," Mardan continued. "You finally realize what this is all about is the restoration of a Russian nation, the restoration of the Russian Empire! This is what the celebration on September 30 is all about."

He added that Russia's existence since the dissolution of the USSR has been a time of "timelessness, blackness, and hopelessness," but the new holiday brings hopefulness to Russia. "A frightening holiday, but not for us. For us, it is a bright, long-awaited holiday, the one that is hard won. It was hard won for over 30 years," he proclaimed. "Pointless existence is the worst existential horror. There are some nations whose existence is pointless. They have no purpose, they've lost it."

Mardan also compared Russia's existence since the end of the Soviet Union to that of a drug user, saying: "We have lived like druggers with torn up veins," but he described the supposed transformation as "something wonderful, something frightening."