Serhii Plokhy’s collection of essays details the history of Ukraine and its tumultuous relationship with Russia, but lacks sufficient discussion on contemporary tensions.
Russia’s Crimea policy is about history, religion, literature, myth, and imperial as well as military glory – which is a long-winded way of saying it’s about identity.
Most western historians of Russia see Crimea as always having been Russian and therefore have not fully criticised Russia’s 2014 annexation.
A major contributor to conflict has been the West’s desire to spread democracy and Russia’s desire to prevent it.
The Kosovan and Crimean situations are superficially similar, but commentators are wrong to claim that a Kosovan precedent can be applied to Crimea.
Russia’s desire to limit Ukraine’s independence and to retake control of Crimea did not emerge during the Putin era. Rather they were there from the very beginning.
The conflict in Ukraine will remain difficult to solve because Russia’s goals are contradictory to Ukraine’s and the West’s norms.
Scholars writing about the Russia-Ukraine conflict face a choice in perspectives that is likely to lead them to being criticised no matter what they do.
Russia’s actions in 2014 were not just a response specific events such as NATO enlargement, EU policy, democracy promotion or revolution in Ukraine.
Wojciech Lorenz discusses the effect of the election of Donald Trump and events in Turkey on NATO, potential NATO enlargement and Poland’s current security situation.
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