Putin sees Ukrainian democracy as a threat, undermines his sense of the Russian mission, Stanford historian says
For Putin, it’s one thing if Estonia or Latvia has a well-functioning parliamentary democracy. These former Soviet republics that also share common borders with Russia did not have the same integral nexus with the Russia that Putin thinks Ukraine does. Ukrainian democracy is seen as threatening and undermines his sense of the larger Russian mission.
Putin’s version of Russian history is both distorted and pernicious. Alas, given heavy censorship it’s also the only version of history that is proffered in the Russian media. (Note the closing last December in Russia of the impressive civil society organization, “Memorial,” which was dedicated to accurately documenting and interpreting the Soviet past.) To be sure, since the late 19th century, there have been Russian nationalist thinkers who, like Putin, extoll the special role of the Russian people, the superior moral quality of Orthodoxy, the justifiable dominance of Russians in Eurasia and the unique place of the Russian collectivity in the world. But there are also plenty of reasonable Russians, who reject this kind of national chauvinism and would like to live normal lives in peace with their neighbors and in a democratic society. This war really hurts these good people. They live under a brutal autocrat, and there is not much they can do to change their country’s policies. They have had to experience Soviet dictatorship and now Putin’s with the accompanying historical distortions. This is another reason the Ukrainians are fighting so hard: They just don’t want to go back to denying their national aspirations and giving up the ability to tell their own story because of Moscow’s dictates.
