Former Mongolian president puts Putin in his place: “No worries. We are a peaceful country” | War Ukraine and Russia

Elbegdorzj posted his message this morning in the aftermath of the interview that American opinion maker Tucker Carlson had with the Russian president. It immediately went viral.

“I have found a historical map of Mongolia,” he writes alongside a number of images that show the Mongol Empire once stretched from Eastern Europe to Southeast Asia, covering much of Russia and China. “No problem. We are a peaceful and free country,” he adds delicately.

The post immediately received widespread support and was viewed more than 4 million times in twelve hours. “Tweet of the year. And it’s only February,” said the comments.

Mongolia was founded in 1206 by Genghis Khan, at a time when Russia was little more than a collection of separate principalities. Mongolia would become the second largest empire in world history that same century. Only the British Empire was ever larger in size.

Putin likes to hark back to the heyday of the Russian Empire to lay claim to areas that do not now belong to Russia, such as Ukraine. He had already brought Belarus under his control.

Just before the invasion of Ukraine, he said in a speech that he wants to return to Russia before 1917. In addition to former Soviet countries, this also included a large part of Poland, including the capital Warsaw.

Former President Tsahiagiin Elbegdorzh has repeatedly criticized the invasion of Ukraine and called on President Putin “to stop the war, the senseless massacres and the destruction”.