How a distorted view of the past leads to disaster, write Fiona Hill, former senior director of the Europe and Russia division of the US National Security Agency, and Angela Stent, researcher and author of Putinʼs World: Russia Against the West and With the Rest, in an essay on worldview Putin on Foreign Affairs. The authors are convinced that the establishment of the Russian Federation as the main power of Eurasia is the Kremlinʼs goal, and the "threat from NATO" is just an excuse for another invasion. The Russian leader is haunted by the imperial past, write Hill and Stent, he is not only inspired by Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, but also literally appropriates Ukrainian history ― for example, by erecting a monument to the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr the Great. Putin also believes that his mission is to correct the "mistake of 1922", when the Ukrainian Soviet Republic gained autonomy during the formation of the Soviet Union. Putin considers the invasion of Ukraine to be a logical continuation of the "Great Patriotic War", the goal of which is "liberation from the Nazis", who refuse to recognize that they are actually Russians. Belief in this alternative history obscures awareness of the long-term consequences of the war for Russia, the authors believe, and this same belief means that the only acceptable outcome of the war for him is the surrender of Ukraine. According to sources among former top US diplomats, in April there were talks about returning to the status of February 23, when the Russian Federation controlled Crimea and part of Donbas, but in July Sergey Lavrov said that this option was no longer under consideration. Hill and Stent write about the influence on the development of domestic and foreign policy events, in particular, about the danger of expanding Russiaʼs ties with developing countries. To prevent Russiaʼs reference, the conventional West must redouble its efforts to resist, counter the Kremlinʼs disinformation, and withstand nuclear threats and energy blackmail.
Vice magazine wrote about a five-year US propaganda campaign that promoted pro-Western narratives. The AI created accounts on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter that spread fake news, online petitions, and various hashtags criticizing Russia, China, Iran, and other authoritarian countries. After the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the accounts began to criticize Russia for the killing of civilians and imperial ambitions. Fake users often used real news from sources such as Meduza or the Russian BBC service, which they made small changes or used a poor translation. It is interesting that the methods of the campaign were similar to the methods that the Russian Federation used in the USA during the 2016 election race.
Serge Schmemann, a member of the editorial board of The New York Times, writes about the danger of a nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. Schmemann believes that international pressure on the Russian Federation and the joint traumatic experience of Ukraine and Russia in Chornobyl can prevent escalation in Energodar. Since it is impossible to demilitarize the area around the NPP, the main goal of the international community is to get the IAEA expert mission to the station. Both Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of creating a dangerous situation and shelling the station. Russia even brazenly convened the UN Security Council to blame Ukraine for this. Shmemann writes that although it is impossible to determine who is shooting, it is the Russian Federation that has invaded Ukraine, and if the Russians leave, the danger will be eliminated. Moreover, it is Russia that refuses to create a demilitarized zone around the nuclear power plant. However, the author is convinced that since an accident at the station will threaten Russians no less than Ukrainians, negotiations are a real chance to achieve safe operation of the station.