In September 2013 at Valdai, his official presidential summit on foreign policy, Putin expressed his vision in secular terms. He cited Ilyin’s “organic model” of Russian statehood, in which Ukraine was an inseparable organ of the virginal Russian body. “We have common traditions, a common mentality, a common history and a common culture,” said Putin. “We have very similar languages. In that respect, I want to repeat again, we are one people.”
