Putin’s Imperial Nationalism and Obsession with Ukraine

Abstract

This article examines the aims of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. Since the Kremlin has stated several different reasons for its invasion, there have also been several different interpretations over what Putin’s real war objectives are and whether his decision making was rational or not. By revealing inconsistency in Russia’s declared goals and actions as well as analyzing the shift in Putin’s political discourse of nationalism, this article argues that his goal is not to stop NATO’s expansion or “protect the Russians from genocide” in eastern Ukraine, but to oust the Zelensky regime and to put Ukraine under Russia’s control. Thus, even though Russia has changed its strategy to the “liberation” of Donbas so far, it is likely that Russia will prolong the war to reorganize the troops and to seize the entire Ukraine.