The notion that Ukraine is not a country, but a historical part of Russia, appears to be deeply ingrained in the minds of Russian leadership. Competing interpretations of history have turned into a key ingredient of the deepening dispute between Russia and the West and a subject that Putin in particular appears to feel unusually passionate about. In this […]
This November (October in the Julian calendar) marks the centenary of the second of the 1917 Russian Revolutions, when the Bolsheviks overthrew the Provisional Government, and established a federal government and the world’s first socialist republic. This was the result of several months of power struggles, after the sudden collapse of the Tsarist autocracy and the abdication of Nicholas […]
In this post for LSE International History, Björn Alexander Düben analyses the recent outbreak of conflict in Ukraine. Dr Düben examines Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine and its annexation of Ukrainian territory, and argues that Russia’s claims to parts of Ukraine and its annexation of territory in the country has little basis in history and the parameters of international law.
Legality
When Russia’s President Vladimir […]