Is Putin the New Peter the Great?

Has Putin Compared Himself to Peter the Great?
The source begins by noting that Euro-Atlantic propaganda frequently reports a quote from a speech in which Vladimir Putin allegedly compared himself to Tsar Peter the Great
. The author believes that many journalists reporting this story never listened to the full speech, which Putin delivered at a press conference on June 9, 2022, for the inauguration of an exhibition in Moscow celebrating the 350th anniversary of the emperor's birth. Instead, they used decontextualized snippets, such as the one published by Post under the headline: Putin si è paragonato allo zar Pietro il Grande
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The Cited Excerpt
The key quote attributed to Putin, concerning Peter the Great and the Great Northern War, is as follows:
«He (Peter the Great, ed.) led the Great Northern War for 21 years. It might have seemed that he was at war with Sweden, taking something away from it. But he wasn't taking anything away. He was taking back control. […] When he founded the new capital, none of the European countries recognized that territory as belonging to Russia. Everyone considered it Swedish. But the Slavs had always lived there together with the Ugro-Finnic peoples. […] He was only reconquering those lands and strengthening the power. Now it is up to us too to reconquer and strengthen ourselves»
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Analysis of the Comparison
The author argues that a closer reading of the quote reveals an incongruity with the propaganda narrative
. If grammar is consulted, the excerpt from Putin’s speech does not speak in the first person but uses a more cautious "we" (noi). Therefore, he is not comparing himself directly to the Tsar but rather advancing a historical parallel between Russia of that era and Russia today
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The analysis highlights two main points of this parallel:
1. Historical Context of the Great Northern War (1700–1721): The conflict was fought by the Kingdom of Sweden against a coalition of kingdoms aiming to curb Swedish expansionism
. Peter the Great’s participation was part of a revolt of the Baltic kingdoms intending to curb the imperialist expansionism of Sweden. Through the Treaty of Nystad, Peter the Great gained Livonia, Estonia, Ingria, part of Karelia, and crucial access to the Baltic Sea. The author finds the analogy between Peter the Great’s war against Swedish imperial expansionism and the current war against NATO expansionism in Eastern Europe to be not only obvious but entirely legitimate
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2. Historical Claims to Territory: Peter the Great’s claims were historically founded, as the Slavic peoples had lived in those territories alongside Ugro-Finnic populations
. The first nucleus of the Rus of Novgorod exercised commercial, political, cultural, and military influence there for centuries, which was only interrupted by the Northern Crusades, the openly colonial expansionism of the Teutonic Knights and Sword Brethren.