A Russian video blogger’s strident defense of his nation’s invasion and occupation of its neighbors, in the form of an open letter to President Obama uploaded to the web on Saturday, has become an instant hit among Russian nationalists, but raised alarm bells in other former Soviet republics.

The video, “I Am a Russian Occupier,” answers criticism of Russia’s role in Ukraine by making the case for Russian imperial conquest throughout history as a constructive, civilizing force. The narration, adapted from a prose poem published last year by Alexei Ivanov, a Russian writer, asserts that Russians have a proud history of improving the lands they invaded and occupied in the past, including Siberia, the Baltic states and Ukraine.