The fake about "Russia that did not attack anyone," which is constantly voiced by Putin, Patriarch Kirill, and other representatives of the Russian Federation, has received a new modification. Now, it seems that, as Putin said, Peter I was only "returning Russian lands" back, not seizing the lands of other states. "Peter І fought the Great Northern War for 21 years. It would seem that he was at war with Sweden; he took something there… He didn't take anything; he returned it! That's right. All of Ladoga, where St. Petersburg is founded. When he founded the new capital, none of the European countries recognized this territory as Russia; everyone recognized it as Sweden. And from time immemorial, Slavs lived there alongside the Finno-Ugric peoples, and this territory was under the control of the Russian state. The same is true in the western direction, which applies to Narva's first campaigns. Why did you go there? Turned and strengthened - that's what I did. We also had to return and reinforce. "

In fact, during Putin's Northern War, Peter I not only reclaimed part of Russia's lands (this is true because they were lost after the defeat in the previous war with Sweden) but also seized the territory of modern Estonia and part of modern Latvia, which never belonged to the Moscow state. Moreover, the Slavs who lived in Ladoga were not the indigenous people of these lands - they had captured them just before.

Putin is again using this manipulation and outright lies to convince the electorate that the war against Ukraine is not a war of aggression but only the restoration of historical justice. But appealing to the events of the XVII and XVIII centuries does not make sense - since then, any country has changed borders many times. After World War II, world security architecture insisted that governments not try to redistribute borders or return the former lands to their state.

You can read more about the history of the Great Northern War here.