“Why does Russia invade its neighbors?”

Russia’s relationship with its neighbors has long been tensional. From Georgia in 2008, to Ukraine in 2014, to Syria in 2015, Putin has always laid the blame for Russian aggression squarely at the West’s feet. Historically, and before the collapse of the soviet union in 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union fought together as allies against the Axis powers during the world war II. However, the relationship between both did not end well. As a result of years of tensions, the soviet union collapsed and nations within it declared their independence; and the Baltic states sought an international recognition. As a result, a new leader came believing that  the empire’s collapse was a “geopolitical catastrophe.”

According to the reading, “The Return of Geopolitics Past” Russia had long functioned as a “dark double” to the United States in its self-definition as a world power. Under the presidency of  Vladimir Putin, the invasion of the Crimean Peninsula  from Ukraine in early 2014 was the most consequential decision of his 16 years in power. The invasion in Crimea tends to be very crucial in determining the motives. The question of why invading neighboring territories tends to be more historical, post cold war and the collapse of the soviet union. The goal might be to gradually recapture the former territories of the Soviet Union and by that expand  Russia’s borders or simply because of geopolitical ambitions.