What led to Russia's renewed aggression against Ukraine
What led to Russia's renewed aggression against Ukraine
Putin’s obsession with reviving a version of the Soviet empire is a case study of how strongmen leverage nostalgia.
By Ruth Ben-Ghiat, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
"We want a stable, predictable relationship," President Joe Biden said last May when asked about his goals for his summit the next month in Geneva with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The official summit photograph communicated a sense of harmony and balance, with the leaders seated in matching chairs, a globe between them.
Uh-oh, I thought at the time: A stable relationship with America is the last thing Putin aspires to. Russia works hard to weaken American democracy through cyberattacks, election interference, and supporting secessionist movements and other forms of extremism.
As an analyst of autocrats, I also knew that being presented as Biden's equal at the summit could spark a desire in Putin to show dominance. A few weeks later, I forecast that post-summit, we would likely see an uptick in Russian international aggression, with "chaos and risk-taking" on the horizon. That is now manifesting in Putin's apparent planned invasion of Ukraine, which would mark a return to the active warfare of 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean region.
READ MORE: What led to Russia's renewed aggression against Ukraine https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/what-led-rus...
Putin’s obsession with reviving a version of the Soviet empire is a case study of how strongmen leverage nostalgia.
By Ruth Ben-Ghiat, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
"We want a stable, predictable relationship," President Joe Biden said last May when asked about his goals for his summit the next month in Geneva with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The official summit photograph communicated a sense of harmony and balance, with the leaders seated in matching chairs, a globe between them.
Uh-oh, I thought at the time: A stable relationship with America is the last thing Putin aspires to. Russia works hard to weaken American democracy through cyberattacks, election interference, and supporting secessionist movements and other forms of extremism.
As an analyst of autocrats, I also knew that being presented as Biden's equal at the summit could spark a desire in Putin to show dominance. A few weeks later, I forecast that post-summit, we would likely see an uptick in Russian international aggression, with "chaos and risk-taking" on the horizon. That is now manifesting in Putin's apparent planned invasion of Ukraine, which would mark a return to the active warfare of 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean region.
READ MORE: What led to Russia's renewed aggression against Ukraine https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/what-led-rus...
Yet, Ukraine is also a means to a greater end. Former Estonian President Toomas Ilves has warned that "Putin wants to establish a legacy for himself in the tradition of Peter the Great and Catherine.