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Scholar traces Russia’s recent moves to Soviet collapse, NATO expansion and Crimea annexation
Summary
Professor Clint Walker told a Montana World Affairs Council conference that historical memory, NATO enlargement and the 2014 annexation of Crimea help explain, though not justify, Vladimir Putin’s actions toward Ukraine.
Professor Clint Walker, a faculty member in the Department of World Languages and Cultures, said historical events from the Christianization of Kievan Rus' to the collapse of the Soviet Union shape Russia’s contemporary foreign policy and Vladimir Putin’s worldview.
Walker told attendees that three figures—Prince Volodymyr (the medieval Christianizer of Rus'), Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Vladimir V. Putin—offer touchpoints for understanding Russia’s sense of history and grievance. He said Putin regards the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union as a seismic loss; Walker quoted Putin’s characterization of that event as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century," as recounted by Walker during the presentation.
Walker said the legacy of World War II—known…
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