title: Identity and Geopolitics: Ukraine's Grappling With Imperial Legacies
abstract: During his March 18, 2014 Kremlin speech celebrating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, Vladimir Putin declared: “Kiev is the mother of Russian cities. Ancient Rus is our common source and we cannot live without each other.” Putin had already hinted that, to him, Ukraine “isn’t a state.” The border between Russia and Ukraine would, somehow, be the result of a staggeringly immense, ancient, but still ongoing conspiracy: “The intention to split Russia and Ukraine, to separate w