The ISW team notes that the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and his entourage have focused on the topic of the "partition" of Ukraine to force the West to get used to this idea.
The Kremlin is trying to manipulate the West
According to the American Institute for the Study of War, right now, Moscow is doing everything possible to normalize the narrative of "division" in Western discussions about Ukraine.
For example, on February 5, the former president of the Russian Federation, Dmytry Medvedev, said that the alleged European plans to build a railway line from Spain to Lviv are evidence of the recognition by the West that Lviv will become "the new capital of Ukraine within [the Lviv region]" after the end of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Foreign experts draw attention to the fact that this plan has nothing to do with Ukrainian borders or the end of the war in Ukraine. What is important to understand is that it is an independent European infrastructure project.
American analysts also noticed that the Putin henchman published his statements on the English-language account X (formerly Twitter), not the Russian-language Telegram account.
That is, he deliberately spread lies to the Western audience.
ISW also warns that Medvedev's statement contributes to the Russian information operation, which falsely portrays Ukraine as an artificially constructed state.
Putin is directly participating in the new Russia's information operation
It is vital not to ignore the fact that dictator Putin and members of his team have recently revived a narrative in which the invasion of Ukraine is seen as a historically justified imperial conquest.
In December 2023, they proposed to a mostly Russian-speaking audience that Russia and European powers could divide Ukraine and leave it as a "sovereign" state within the Lviv region. This later attracted some attention from several right-wing nationalist Central European politicians.
According to ISW, the head of the Kremlin has not yet given up his maximalist goals in Ukraine.
