Russian President Vladimir Putin, while answering questions today at the Truth and Justice media forum organized by the Russian Popular Front in Kaliningrad, said the one thing in history he would like to change is the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, he also said he did not want to change one historical period for another and would rather focus on a prosperous future for Russia.

When asked what event in Russia’s past he would like to change, the Russian President answered, “The collapse of the Soviet Union,” while his answer to the question what historical period he would like to live in was the following, “Today.” You see, all my ancestors in the past were peasant serfs, while I am the president,” the head of state explained ironically, wrote Russian state news agency TASS.

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When asked whether he has a dream, which has not come true, the president said that his goal is clear. “I want our country to be successful, powerful, stable, balanced and looking ahead.”

Much has been made in the Western press about Putin’s prior comments expressing nostalgia for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The policies of returning Russia’s ‘near abroad’ to Moscow’s influence has been much maligned by Western analysts and policy makers. Western sanctions were imposed on Russia and Russian nationals after the Kremlin’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

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Recently the Russian president made headlines by declaring Russia possessed new nuclear weapons that were invincible to American missile defense technology, a seeming throw back to the Cold War. The comments were made after the Trump administration announced a new defense posture which saw the development of new short-range nuclear weapons in response to Russia’s deployment of Iskander nuclear-capable missiles in Kaliningrad, a Russian Exclave in the Baltic region, which worries NATO war planners.