We believe that the causes of the Russian-Ukrainian war can be understood as part of the post-communist transition. From the perspective of Putin's Russia, compared to the United States and China, the last three decades have been a failure on the economic growth front. Hence Putin's desire to restore as much as possible the Soviet Union, a multi-ethnic confederation of people built on communist ideology. But there is a contradiction here that neither public opinion nor Russian leaders can see. The Russian leadership cannot legitimise its current power and its ambitions to change the status quo by anything other than appealing to Russian national interests. This cannot be done without a communist ideology, because the Slavophile, ethno-nationalist, Pravoslav ideology and Putin's cult of personality are unacceptable to all other ethnic groups in the region.
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Link2: ‘Russia’s nuclear threat certainly not a bluff, warns Putin’s ally. Medvedev is one of Putin’s closest associates and is widely seen as expressing the Russian president’s views’, Deccan Herald (27 September 2022) <https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/russias-nuclear-threat-certainly-not-a-bluff-warns-putins-ally-1148661.html> accessed 14 June 2023.
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Link4: ‘Putin: “Global Reorganisation Of Sovereign States Is Occurring Into A Multipolar World”’, Russia Briefing (21 July 2022) <https://www.russia-briefing.com/news/putin-global-reorganisation-of-sovereign-states-is-occurring-into-a-multipolar-world.html/> accessed 14 June 2023.