The Spreading Chaos: The Case of Ukraine

Abstract: The second Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 22, 2022 ignited the most severe national security crisis and produced the largest number of combat casualties in Europe since World War II. This article examines Vladimir Putin’s motivations in attempting to conquer Ukraine. One answer lies in self-destructive forces at work within Russia. Some Russian scholars estimate the population may decline from 143 million to 70 million over the next 50 years. European national intelligence services believe that Russia’s foreign policy is focused on three primary objectives: destroy the NATO alliance, weaken the European Union, and force the U.S. out of Europe so that Russia will be the predominant continental power. Russia cannot be the dominant continental power in Europe without a large land army. Population counts when defining whether a country may qualify as a great power. Putin himself has admitted this when he argued in a speech in January 2020: “Russia’s fate and its historical prospects depend on one thing: how many of us there are and how many of us there will be.”