Putin’s arguments about foreign enemies promoting Ukrainian (and, in a more diffuse way, Belarusian) identity as part of a geopolitical struggle against Russia echo the way many of his predecessors refused to accept the agency of ordinary people seeking autonomy from tsarist or Soviet domination. Throughout Putin’s time in office, Moscow has pursued a policy toward Ukraine and Belarus predicated on the assumption that their respective national identities are artificial-and therefore fragile. The corollary to that view is the claim that distinct Ukrainian and Belarusian identities are the product of foreign manipulation and that, today, the West is following in the footsteps of Russia’s imperial rivals in using Ukraine (and Belarus) as part of an “ anti-Russia project.” It reflected a worldview Putin had long expressed, emphasizing the deep-seated unity among the Eastern Slavs-Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians, who all trace their origins to the medieval Kyivan Rus commonwealth-and suggesting that the modern states of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus should share a political destiny both today and in the future. While these grievances included the long-simmering dispute over the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the shape of the post–Cold War security architecture in Europe, the speech centered on a much more fundamental issue: the legitimacy of Ukrainian identity and statehood themselves. On February 21, 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a bizarre and at times unhinged speech laying out a long list of grievances as justification for the “special military operation” announced the following day. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine constitutes the biggest threat to peace and security in Europe since the end of the Cold War.
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