Russia's War Against Ukraine by Gwendolyn Sasse - 9781509560592

Russia's War Against UkraineAuthor(s): Gwendolyn Sasse\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Polity Press\nISBN-13: 9781509560592, 978-1509560592\nSynopsis\nOn 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, giving rise to the deadliest conflict on European soil since the Second World War. How could this happen in twenty-first-century Europe? Why did Putin decide to escalate Russias war against Ukraine, a war which began with Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014? In this timely book, Gwendolyn Sasse analyses the background to this war and examines the factors that led to Putins fateful decision. She retraces the history of Ukraines struggle for independence from Russia and shows how democratic developments in Ukraine had become a risk for Russias political system. She also shows that ambiguous Western policy towards Russia encouraged elites in the Kremlin to think that they had more room for action than they did. The resu.