The History Behind Russia's Expansionary Foreign Policy

Published December 8, 2022

Is Russia inherently imperialist and expansionist? Russia wasn’t forced to invade Ukraine, but its leaders chose to do so because they want Russia to become a great power. If Russian elites could somehow relinquish their unwinnable competition with the West, they could set their country on a less costly and more promising course.

Discussion Questions:

1. Who is at fault for the war in Ukraine, the Russian citizens or Putin? Why?
2. How should the West have responded to the invasion of Ukraine? 

Additional Resources:

• Read “Russia’s Perpetual Geopolitics: Putin Returns to the Historical Pattern,” by Stephen Kotkin via Foreign Affairs. Available here.
• Read “Weakness and Grandeur,” by Stephen Kotkin. Available here.
• Watch or listen to “Pesci-ent Knowledge: Stephen Kotkin On Xi’s China, Putin’s Russia,” on GoodFellows. Available here.