How Vladimir Putin’s World View Shapes Russian Foreign Policy
Journal: Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks
Year: 2015

On 18 March 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin stood in the Kremlin before an assembly of Russian officials and parliamentarians to address the nation. His speech marked the official signing of documents uniting the peninsular Republic of Crimea, which had just seceded from Ukraine, with the Russian Federation. Putin's speech was intended to be historic. It was laden, almost overloaded, with references to several centuries of Russian history. Putin invoked the grievances that had festered in