러시아ㆍ유라시아

The degree to which Western relations with Russia have fallen apart since the hopeful days of Mikhail Gorbachev and the early post-Cold War period is mind-numbing. A few key milestones and events are worth revisiting briefly to establish context.At the end of 1991, Ukraine regained its independence as the Soviet Union dissolved. In previous centuries, parts of Ukraine had been ruled or contested by foreigners including Poles, Lithuanians, Ottomans, and, of course, Russians. But the country’s core identity was just as old as Russia’s, despite President Vladimir Putin’s absurd claim in his infamous and foreboding 2021 essay that Ukraine was not a real country.