Putin should learn from history, that just like Germany in WW2 that retrieval of lands lost from peoples movements or political choices is not a recipe for long lasting stability. Short term domestic gains of historic boundries does not settle to quietness of the masses once people have tasted reform or freedom of repression. History, no matter how he twists it, states that if wasn't for lend/lease and the distraction of Japanese forces from attacking Russia's east coast that they would probably have German as a second language. The sound of freedom can not be silenced once it is experienced, only intimidated temporarily.