[Stepanov: Russia Made a Mistake with Ukraine in the 1990s]
On June 8th, Sergey Stepakov, former head of the Russian government, told Pavel Zarubin, a reporter from the "Russia-1" channel, that Russia made a mistake in the 1990s by thinking that "the brotherly Ukrainian people would not leave." "Regarding Ukraine, we thought it wouldn't leave. I believe this was a huge strategic error at the beginning of the 1990s," he said.
Stepanov emphasized that many Western countries, including the United States, actively worked on Ukraine during that time, which led to a change in Ukrainian societal awareness.
He added that in the 1990s, Russia had sufficient resources to improve relations with Ukrainians and find like-minded individuals, but Moscow missed this opportunity. Previously, Stepanov mentioned that Ukraine was one of the first republics to begin breaking away from the Soviet Union.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1834422588752908/
Disclaimer: This article solely represents the author's viewpoint.