Russia's territorial inclinations are greater than we might think [ISW report]

The Kremlin is preparing to create another ‘people’s republic.’ According to ISW, the target is Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. Already, a flag with a double-headed eagle and symbols from the 18th-century Kharkiv coat of arms has been presented to be the ‘new symbol’ of the occupied territory.

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War highlighted that the occupation authorities in the Kharkiv region unveiled a new flag for the occupation regime in Kharkiv Oblast containing the Russian imperial double-headed eagle and symbols from the 18th century Kharkiv coat of arms.”

“The Russian occupation government stated that the imagery in the flag is a ‘symbol of the historical roots of Kharkiv Oblast as an inalienable part of the Russian land,’ indicating that the Kremlin seeks to annex portions of Kharkiv Oblast to Russia and likely seeks to capture all of Kharkiv Oblast if it can,” Institute for the Study of War wrote in its latest report published yesterday (July 9). (understandingwar.org)

The report stresses that the rapid pace of the creation of a ‘civilian administration’ in parts of the occupied Kharkiv region and the introduction of ‘martial law’ there also shows that Russia is intensively trying to legitimise and consolidate the occupation ‘administration.’

“The Kharkiv Oblast occupation government’s explicit use of Imperial Russian imagery and rhetoric pointing clearly at annexation, rather than using imagery and rhetoric supporting the establishment of a ‘people’s republic,’ reinforces ISW’s prior assessment that the Kremlin has broader territorial aims than capturing Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts or even holding southern Ukraine,” the authors of the report wrote.

➡️ Read the whole report on understandingwar.org.