In March 2021, Putin will attend a concert to mark the seventh anniversary of the annexation of the peninsula. The image is from Mikhail Svetlov.
Russia is threatening the integrity of the eastern border.
In recent weeks, a build up of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border has rattled Western leaders fearful of an incursion similar to or even more wide-ranging than Russia's annexation of the peninsula.
NATO should cease all military cooperation in Eastern Europe and no former Soviet states should be added to the alliance, according to a demand made by Putin on December 17, 2021.
The Cold War was when global politics centered around an ideological struggle between a communist Eastern Bloc and a capitalist West. It serves Russia's goal of asserting its position as a global power.
As scholars of the politics and culture of Ukraine and Russia, we know that Putin is trying to get Ukraine to join the Russian empire, which at one time ranged from present-day Poland to the Russian Far East. Understanding this helps explain how Putin leans into this view of Ukraine to advance his agenda.
The view from Russia.
The second-largest nation in Europe is Ukraine, with 44 million people.
For centuries, the Russian Empire had a nickname for Ukraine, "Malorossiya" or "Little Russia".
The idea that Ukraine was a junior member of the empire was strengthened by the use of this term. Czarist policies from the 18th century suppressed the use of the Ukrainian language and culture. The goal of these policies was to establish a dominant Russia and strip Ukraine of its identity as a nation.
In the 21st century, a similar ploy has been used to downplay Ukrainian independence. In 2008 Putin's then-spokesman, Vladislav, claimed thatUkraine is not a state.
Putin wrote an article saying Russians and Ukrainians are one people. The concept of a single people is based on the history of the medieval federation that included parts of modern-day Ukraine and Russia.
Commemorations of the history of Russia of Kyivan Rus have increased in prominence.
A statue of Prince Vladimir of Kyiv, considered a saintly ruler by Ukrainians and Russians alike, was unveiled in Moscow in 2016 Ukrainians were upset by the statue. The depiction of Vladimir in the center of Moscow signaled Russia's attempt to own the history of Ukraine.
It came two years after Russia invaded the eastern Ukrainian Donbass region, and it didn't help.
Russian citizens in Ukraine.
Many ethnic Russians and people who mostly speak Russian live in the Donbass and Crimea.
The idea of the Russian World or Russkiy Mir was often invoked by Putin and his allies in the years leading up to Russia's military actions.
The ideology asserts that the Russian state has a right to protect and defend Russians wherever they are in the world.
The perfect landscape for this concept can be found in Ukraine, both in the year 2014). Russia has been giving arms to pro-Russian rebels in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
It's a gross oversimplification to think that Ukraine is a country split between pro-Moscow ethnic Russians and pro-Western Ukrainians.
Is there ethnic tensions?
The country's ethnic makeup today reflects the country's absorption into the Soviet Union from 1922.
Before the Soviet Union was formed, ethnic Ukrainians lived all over the country. Stalin orchestrated a famine that killed 4 million Ukrainians. The famine made it possible for ethnic Russians to move into the territory of Ukraine.
These new residents were involved in the industrialization campaign. The heart of the industrial economy is the Donbass.
In 1991, all of the Ukrainian regions supported independence from the Soviet Union. The large minority of ethnic Russians were included in the 2001 census as Ukrainian citizens. Most of the time they voted for independence.
After independence, ethnic Russians have lived peacefully with the other ethnic minorities.
In 2010 a politician from the east of the country became the president. Many of his policies deviated from the pro-European policies of his predecessors and played into the designs of Vladimir Putin, though he did not state that he preferred a pro-Russian future for Ukraine.
The European Union and Ukraine were close to signing an association agreement. Instead, he joined the economic union with Russia. The mass protests around the country resulted in the ousting of the president. Putin claimed to protect ethnic Russians living on that peninsula.
The pro-Russian rebels took over multiple cities in the east of the country in the hope that Russia would protect Russians there.
The ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in the east of the country did not want to be part of Russia. Some 1.5 million people have left the Donbass to live in other parts of the country. A million people have left for Russia.
Many people who are still in the territories occupied by the rebels are being offered a fast track to Russian citizenship. Putin can increase pro-Russian sentiment in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine has a stronger identity.
Ethnic Russians in Ukraine are not a predictor of political affiliation in the country. Being an ethnic Russian or a Russian speaker doesn't mean you see yourself as part of the Russian World. Since 1991, there has been an increase in the sentiment of a strong, unified Ukrainian identity. The majority of Ukrainians support NATO.
Most Ukrainians see their country as a part of Europe. Putin wants to expand the Russian World. They help explain why Ukraine is a flashpoint.
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The Conversation is a news site that shares ideas from academic experts. Jacob Lassin, Arizona State University, and Emily Channell-Justice, Harvard University, wrote it.
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