title: Rebuilding a ‘Greater Russia’ and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
abstract: Putin has made clear, as he stated more than a decade and a half ago, that “the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century” and that he is committed to reestablishing Russia’s greatness and dominant role in world politics. Thus, Russian policy toward its near neighbors under Putin is committed to _de facto _reestablishing the former Soviet Union – or Greater Russia. Russian wars or virtual wars with Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine – since 2014, but especially