14 Mar 2022

What's driving Vladimir Putin?

From Nine To Noon, 9:30 am on 14 March 2022
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Photo: AFP

People around the world are watching Russia's war on Ukraine in disbelief, wondering what's driving Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin calls the onslaught a "special military operation" to "demilitarize and denazify Ukraine." Mr Putin is known to have a deep interest in history, so what can history tell us about his motivation? Dr Evgeny Pavlov is Associate Professor of Russian and History at the University of Canterbury and Vice President of the Australia and New Zealand Slavists' Association.  His recent work includes an edited volume on the political narratives in Russia's relations with Post-Soviet Europe 30 years after the breakup of the USSR.