Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a war long in the making and is the latest in a series of military interventions that have showcased Vladimir Putin’s deadly imperial ambitions and the ruthless and bloody strategies that serve his vision of a greater Russia. Putin’s Russia wants its empire back and it has taken the events in Ukraine for the West to finally realize it.

Alex Bellamy examines the road to Ukraine 2022 and charts the path from Chechnya, Putin’s first war which helped propel him to the presidency, through to conflict in Georgia, Crimea, the South Caucasus and Syria. He shows the central role war has played in Putin’s rule and how it has helped craft a new social contract between president and people grounded in a shared vision of Russian national identity. For anyone wanting to understand the hows and whys of the war in Ukraine, Alex Bellamy’s clear and insightful analysis is a must-read.