title: Russia’s Policies toward Ukraine: The Context, Evolution, and Outlook
abstract: The ongoing war in Ukraine was anything but an accident. Its outbreak was not predicted by many and it was thought that it could be prevented. It was the culmination of two opposite long-term trends which finally collided head-on in February 2014, and then again in February 2022. One was Russia's drive to re-establish itself as a great power after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The other was the determination of the United States to contain Russia's comeback to the world scene as a major inde
journal: IPRI Journal