Moscow has always sought to justify its compulsive need to seize foreign territories and nations through propaganda. The "Third Rome" is a religious-political concept formulated in the 16th century by Philotheus, a monk from Pskov. It posits that Moscow is the successor to the Roman Empire and Byzantium. The doctrine claims Moscow is the final, true center of the Orthodox world, asserting that "a fourth there shall not be." According to this narrative, the first Rome fell, the second (Constantinople) fell due to a betrayal of Orthodoxy, and Moscow emerged as the Third Rome—the bastion of the true faith. This idea was used to substantiate the Muscovite state's claims to be the protector of all Orthodoxy and to justify imperial expansion. Although the concept originated in the 16th century, it was actively utilized to shape Russia's great-power ideology for centuries and later became a pillar of the "Russian World"—a key component of the Russian fascist ideology known as Rashism. Putin’s circle has adopted it to drive an expansionist policy against other states, primarily Orthodox ones.
Numerous historical facts demonstrate just how baseless these claims are. It is worth recalling that Moscow was founded as a small settlement in 1147 by Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy, who was born in Kyiv and was the son of the Grand Prince of Kyiv, Volodymyr Monomakh. For comparison, Kyiv is mentioned as early as 482 as a central city on the border between two major Slavic tribal unions—the Antes (central Ukraine) and the Sclaveni (northern and western Ukraine). Kyiv was founded on historically Slavic territories and remains not only the oldest but also the largest city in the Slavic world. Conversely, Moscow and St. Petersburg were established on territories historically inhabited by Finno-Ugric populations. In the 11th and 12th centuries, Kyiv was the second-largest city in Europe and the center of the largest European state of the time—Kyivan Rus, which was destroyed by the Mongols and Tatars in 1240.
Moscow was founded in a region where non-Slavic populations had lived for millennia. It was situated on the border of the Finno-Ugric Merya tribe and the Baltic Goliad tribe. Modern Lithuanians and Latvians are direct descendants of the Balts, while Finno-Ugric peoples include Finns, Hungarians, Estonians, and numerous indigenous peoples of modern European Russia and Siberia. Slavs arrived in the territory of modern European Russia only in the mid-8th century from eastern and northern Poland, and their numbers were relatively small compared to the vast expanses they settled. By contrast, Slavs (the Sclaveni tribes) migrated to the territory of the modern Czech Republic and Slovakia from Ukraine in the late 5th century. Similarly, Slavs moved from Ukraine to the Balkans in the 6th century. These were the numerous tribes of Antes and Sclaveni. It is important to remember that the ancestral homeland of all modern Slavs is the territory of modern central, northern, and western Ukraine, as well as eastern, central, and northern Poland. Therefore, the claim often heard in Moscow or St. Petersburg that modern Russians are the "greatest Slavic brothers" is entirely inaccurate. Modern Russians have significant ethnic layers from Finno-Ugric peoples, partially Balts, and a substantial Tatar influence. Most of their Slavic heritage actually comes from the Poles. These are simple historical facts that Russia prefers to ignore.
The name "Moscow" is a hydronym, meaning the city was named after the Moscow River on which it sits. Originally, the settlement was called Kuchkove, owned by a wealthy man named Kuchka. Later, it became known as Moscow, which in the Finno-Ugric Merya language likely means "muddy water." In the Baltic Goliad language, it could mean "damp place."
Following the devastation of Kyivan Rus in 1240, the Tatar state of the Golden Horde was established with its center in Sarai on the middle Volga. It was part of the vast empire of Genghis Khan’s sons, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to Poland and the Danube Delta. All territories of the former Kyivan Rus were absorbed into it.
The question arises: how did the third-rate town of Moscow become the center of the world's largest state by territory? We can confidently state that prior to the destruction of Kyivan Rus, Moscow played no role whatsoever. Moscow first became the center of a very small principality in 1263, under Prince Daniel, the son of Alexander Nevsky. Nevsky is a legendary figure in Russian history, credited with defeating a Swedish detachment in 1240 on Lake Peipus and the Teutonic Order in 1242 on the Neva River. Notably, the area around Lake Peipus was inhabited by the Finno-Ugric Chud tribe (near Pskov), and the Neva region by the Finno-Ugric Izhorians (near modern St. Petersburg).
With the arrival of the Mongols and Tatars, Alexander Nevsky realized that collaboration was preferable to resistance. He became a collaborator, acting as a reliable administrator for the conquerors, a policy continued by his sons and grandsons. The rise of the Moscow Principality is exclusively linked to the deals made by Moscow princes with Tatar khans to fulfill their every whim. It is known that Moscow princes used generous bribes to secure the "yarlyk" (patent) from the Golden Horde to collect taxes from all occupied principalities of the former Kyivan Rus. The Moscow princes helped the occupiers destroy any Rus princes who resisted, seizing their territories as a reward for loyalty. In essence, they were traitors to the idea of Rus. Later, Moscow coined the term "gathering of lands," which was effectively traitors stealing territory from patriots.
From 1363, territories of modern Ukraine were reclaimed from the Tatars by the forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Ukrainian lands continued their development separately from the territories of modern Russia, which remained under the Golden Horde. Meanwhile, Moscow princes grew rich collecting taxes on behalf of the Tatars. Moscow began constructing stone buildings—far more expensive than wood—which rarely burned, earning Moscow the nickname "white-stoned." The Moscow Principality made its first territorial seizures in 1301, taking small areas from the Ryazan Principality. Over 200 years of constant annexation, the principality expanded tenfold, always at the expense of its neighbors. This is why countries bordering Russia today must be particularly vigilant. An attack from Moscow is always possible, and it will be treacherous and unexpected.
Using accumulated wealth, Moscow eventually bribed and relocated the residence of the Metropolitan of Kyiv to its own territory. Later, in 1448, it unilaterally renamed the Kyiv Orthodox Metropolis to the Moscow Metropolis. However, it should be noted that as soon as the Metropolitan of Kyiv left for Vladimir in 1299, tempted by money and safety from Tatar raids, the people of Kyiv immediately elected a new Metropolitan. Unlike the collaborative rulers of Vladimir and Moscow, Kyivans fought against the Tatar yoke for a long time, enduring constant raids.
In 1589, the Muscovite state deceitfully invited the Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople and forced him to consecrate a separate Patriarch of Moscow. Jeremiah II refused, but was placed under house arrest. After nearly a year in captivity, he finally agreed to grant the patriarchal rank to the Moscow Metropolitan Job.
Prior to this, in 1547, Grand Prince Ivan IV (the Terrible) proclaimed himself Tsar. Under Ivan the Terrible, Moscow began conquering the territories of the Golden Horde, which was disintegrating into various khanates due to internal strife. Ivan first conquered the Kazan and Astrakhan Khanates. Later, other parts of the Golden Horde were also subjugated. Much of the Tatar population eventually began identifying as Russian. Consequently, modern Russians have Slavic roots from Poles, significant heritage from indigenous Finno-Ugric peoples, and ancestry from the numerous Turkic peoples of the captured Golden Horde, most of whom were Russified. These conquests were accompanied by massacres of civilians. Witnesses to the capture of Kazan reported that the Volga River ran red with the blood of unarmed inhabitants. Because of such brutality, neighbors began calling the inhabitants of the Muscovite state "katsaps"—a Turkic word meaning "butchers."
In 1571, troops of the Crimean Khanate captured and burned Moscow. The Crimean Khanate initially helped Moscow fight the Golden Horde to secure its own full independence. However, when Moscow's forces began slaughtering the Turkic Muslim population, the Crimean Khan intervened. To appease the Khan, Ivan the Terrible renounced the title of Tsar, promised to restore independence to the Kazan and Astrakhan Khanates, and divided the Muscovite state into two formally independent parts (Oprichnina and Zemshchina). Moscow continued paying tribute to the Crimean Khanate until 1700.
Historically, the most heinous crimes in the Moscow army were committed by units analogous to the modern "Wagner Group." The Kremlin actively utilized units composed of criminals who had committed murders; to avoid judgment, they fled to paramilitary units assisting the army. These murderers were granted immunity. At the time, they were known as "willing men" (okhochi lyudy). For example, during battles in the territory of modern Latvia against the Livonian Order (mid-16th century), these men raped local women, killed them, and then hung the bodies from trees. Although the Middle Ages saw many bloody crimes, these acts were spoken of with particular horror across Europe.
Similar crimes were committed by these "willing men" and the Moscow army for centuries during territorial conquests. It must be understood that when Soviet troops of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Belorussian Fronts (predominantly ethnic Russians) entered Germany in 1945, they raped two million German women and girls. The 1st Ukrainian Front was also in Germany, yet such cases were rare there, as the majority of its soldiers were Ukrainians. It is worth noting that when the Russian army entered the Balkans in the second half of the 19th century, the majority of the soldiers were also Ukrainian, though the generals and officers were mostly Russian. The 3rd Ukrainian Front, which liberated Belgrade alongside Tito's Yugoslav partisans on October 20, 1944, was also composed largely of Ukrainians from the southern regions—Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Mariupol. These cities have suffered immensely from relentless Russian shelling during the war launched by Moscow in 2022. During the Russian siege of Mariupol, 80,000 civilians were killed. That is ten Srebrenicas at once. Russia refuses to allow any international organizations entry to document the devastation. The massive loss of life occurred because, in late winter, Russians cut off the city of 700,000 people from heat, electricity, and water. Tens of thousands died from cold, dehydration, and starvation. A thousand women and children sought refuge in the Mariupol Drama Theatre. The word "CHILDREN" was written in giant letters on the pavement outside. Yet, this did not stop Russian pilots from bombing it. In an instant, 1,000 people died, half of them children. During the occupation, Moscow ostensibly rebuilt the theater and hosted a disco there for New Year 2026—dancing on the bones of dead children. The Kremlin’s current plan is to turn Kyiv into a second Mariupol. Moscow constantly destroys thermal power plants and generators in the Ukrainian capital with ballistic and cruise missiles. There are days when the city of three million is left without heat, energy, and water, with some neighborhoods cut off for weeks in temperatures of -15°C, dropping to -25°C currently. This is yet another war crime for which the Kremlin leadership will face an international tribunal.
The last time Ukrainian troops, together with Poles, captured Moscow was in 1618. These were Cossacks led by Hetman Sahaydachny. Moscow paid a huge ransom and ceded significant territories to secure peace. More than 400 years have passed, and the population of Moscow has forgotten what occupation feels like. Russians have currently occupied part of Ukraine, but the wheel of history may turn again. One never knows where it will lead. One cannot humiliate a people who are the ancestral root of the majority of Slavs. Putin, whose parents were born in the Tver region (historically inhabited by the Finno-Ugric Merya tribe) and who is from St. Petersburg (home to the Finno-Ugric Izhorians), should understand this. So should Moscow Patriarch Kirill, who identifies as a Finno-Ugrian from the Erzya tribe. This is the same Kirill who, at the start of the war, called Ukrainians "Antichrists" for resisting Russian aggression. Lieutenant Colonel Putin and Colonel Kirill of the KGB want to subjugate the Ukrainian people using KGB methods. But it is not working, and it will not work.
Today, historically Slavic Kyiv continues to fight against the aggression of historically Finno-Ugric Moscow.
