Proposals had been made to change Russia’s nuclear doctrine to allow for attacking any non-nuclear state that had the participation or support of a nuclear state, Putin said.
Proposals had been made to change Russia’s nuclear doctrine to allow for attacking any non-nuclear state that had the participation or support of a nuclear state, Putin said.
I just dont get it. The man rules the world’s largest country by landmass and is richer than the richest people in the universe, what the fuck are you going to do with more land like Ukraine. More importantly, why do so many people have to die for it. And how the fuck are you so incapable of admiting being in the wrong that you threten to nuke the whole world. Why are people in power like this.
Aside from nationalistic pride, there are several practical reasons:
Azof sea + Crimean peninsula are a natural chockepoint for Russia’s exports from the river Don, basically all Russia’s black sea inports and exports pass though there
Donbass is incredibly rich in mineral resources
Ukraine’s ports are where the largest Soviet Union ships were built, Russia can’t build larger frigades/aircraft carriers without Ukraine’s facilities (mainly Mykolaiv port I believe).
The dominance over the black sea is extremely important for Russia, as it may affect both its nuclear deterrence and its control over Georgia which opens the gates to central asia (yes Turkey is in Nato but it plays its own game)
Also consider that Russia started the war hoping for a quick ukrainian capitulation, so they would have absorbed the hugely important ukrainian aerospace industry, and its massive farming industry.
They probably ‘just’ want the Donbass and the coast now, so the last point is no longer relevant, but it played a role in deciding to push forward with the invasion.
Thank you for highlighting the major political motivation
At some point the argument that consolidating more oil and pushing for more gas/oil monopoly would have been part of the play. But now, any unbelievably mediocre economist would just say the roi is somewhere 5 generations in the future (if at all) and the sunken cost fallacy is raping Russia liberally through all echelons.
Not really saying there is logic to the madness, other than some internal motivations (apart from delusions of grandeur imperialistic pursuits).
At this point, it’s certainly more about appearances than actual statecraft.