Book contents
- Russia’s War on Ukraine
- Russia’s War on Ukraine
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Imperialism and Nationalism
- 1 Imperial Nationalism
- 2 Pan-Russian World and Ukraine
- 3 Russian Orthodox Church and Ukraine
- Part II Nostalgia
- Part III Divergence
- Part IV International Dimension
- Index
- References
2 - Pan-Russian World and Ukraine
from Part I - Imperialism and Nationalism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2025
Book contents
- Russia’s War on Ukraine
- Russia’s War on Ukraine
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Imperialism and Nationalism
- 1 Imperial Nationalism
- 2 Pan-Russian World and Ukraine
- 3 Russian Orthodox Church and Ukraine
- Part II Nostalgia
- Part III Divergence
- Part IV International Dimension
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter is focused on the ideology of Pan-Russian World (Russkij mir) as the key driver of Russian imperial nationalism; that is, the way Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin define and perceive Russia’s place and role vis-à-vis Ukraine and in international relations. The ideology of the Pan-Russian World drew on the formulation of this concept by the Russian Orthodox Church and Russian imperial nationalists in the 1990s and evolved in the 2000s when Putin moved to the nationalist right during the first critical juncture of his rule following the Georgian Rose and Ukrainian Orange Revolutions. The Pan-Russian World evolved in three main dimensions. The first was the institutionalisation of symbolic space and shaping the institutional base for the Pan-Russian World. The second was the evolution of Pan-Russian World ideology from the early 1990s to the 2022 full-scale invasion and since. The third, was a growing obsession of the ideology and institutions of the Pan-Russian World with the ‘Ukrainian question’. Combined, they provide an explanation of the ideological legitimisation of Russian imperial nationalism and military aggression towards Ukraine.
Keywords
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Russia's War on UkraineThe Four Roots of Putin's Invasion, pp. 57 - 90Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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