Putin Rewrites History to Justify His Dependence on China

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking in Moscow, Nov. 3. Photo: Mikhail Metzel/Zuma Press Vladimir Putin has typically presented himself as a Russian nationalist, so his recent foray into the Middle Ages must have surprised his supporters. In a speech on Nov. 3, Mr. Putin lauded the Mongol rulers of the Golden Horde, the successor state to Genghis Khan 's empire, for saving Russian lands from Western influences. Until now, Russians saw the 2½ centuries of Mongol rule as a period of national humiliation, a yoke that arrested the country's development and accounted for its perennial backwardness. In a dramatic reversal,…