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The expansionist tendencies of the current Russian regime indicate its intentions for the realisation of a Greater Russia on the lines of the Soviet era. Comment. 10 Marks (UPSC CSE Mains 2024- Political Science and International Relations, Paper 2)
- After the invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a passionate speech about the historic injustice of Ukrainian independence. Russia’s desire to be a great world power is shaped by its historical context. With the total collapse of the Soviet Union, the situation facing Russia was unimaginable for a country that formerly occupied the upper echelons of global dominance. Today, Russia’s territorial extent is at its smallest since before the reign of Catharine the Great. It has lost most of Central Asia, Belarus, the Baltics, Georgia, Armenia and most notably, Ukraine.
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- John Mearsheimer, an Offensive realist, suggests that the root cause of the ongoing war is ‘American-led efforts to make Ukraine a western bulwark on Russia’s borders’. The Western strategy to integrate Ukraine into the EU, to turn it into a pro-western, liberal democracy & ultimately to incorporate the nation into NATO.
- The expansion of NATO in Ukraine and its integration with the West is seen by Russia as an existential threat, the brightest of red lines, the West is not expected to cross.
- The ‘Russian World’ as conceptualised by Putin is a spiritual empire going back to the Kievan Rus in the first millennium. In his 5000-word treatise, published in 2021, he asserted that Ukraine never existed as a separate state and would remain “forever Russian.”
- Putin’s characterisation of the Russian world — spiritually, geographically and culturally — may resonate with his electorate, but critics argue that he has done his own country a disservice by advocating for it so violently.
POSTED ON 07-02-2025 BY ADMIN
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