Political scientist Serhii Taran said this on Espreso TV.“Our Western partners must understand that this is an existential war. But it’s not only about Ukraine. It’s an existential war that for Russia means that after Ukraine another country may follow — perhaps Poland, perhaps all of Europe. Just as previously it was Georgia, just as there was the partial occupation of Moldova. For Russia, this is an existential question — the recreation of the Soviet Union,” Taran noted.According to the political scientist, without the influence of the Soviet empire there would be no Russia as it exists today. That’s why Ukraine is only part of this dreadful Putin plan. For Russia, it has become the sole meaning of existence.The political scientist added that currently the Russian economy is in a crisis. But Russian people perceive the economy differently. For them, greatness matters, because Russia can put up a fight.“These economic difficulties for Russians do not mean the same thing they would mean, for example, for Americans, the French, or any other normally developed modern nation. That is why the Russian economy can now endure this sanctions pressure, because the cost for Russia is very small — there is no democracy, there is no desire among Russians to live better, but there is a desire to take pride in something undefined.Therefore, the way to put pressure on Russia and the way to negotiate with it must be different from how one does with normal people or normal countries,” Taran emphasized.Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation refuted a Russian fake claim that from September 6 to 7, 200,000 people — mostly young men and teenagers — had left Ukraine.