Revising History and ‘Gathering the Russian Lands’: Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian Nationhood
Journal: LSE Public Policy Review
Year: 2023

While the causes of Russia&rsquo;s war against Ukraine are often discussed in terms of geopolitics, another factor that seems to have been an important part of Vladimir Putin&rsquo;s rationale for launching the invasion in February 2022 is his nationalist vision of Ukraine &ndash; or significant portions of it &ndash; as a historic part of Russia. In the years leading up to the invasion, Putin wrote and spoke at great length about Ukrainian history, establishing a narrative centred around the de