Lucian Kim explains how a generational clash over Soviet nostalgia enabled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

On the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, The Naked Pravda speaks with journalist and author Lucian Kim to ask the questions that still don’t have settled answers: Was this war the product of one man’s radicalization, or something deeper — an imperial culture that generates aggression with or without orders from the top? Why didn’t Putin march on Kyiv in 2014, when Ukraine had no army and most of its citizens didn’t yet see Russia as an enemy? And is Putin really the inscrutable black box that analysts make him out to be, or has he been telling us exactly what he intends for decades?

Lucian Kim has been covering Russia since Putin’s first term in office — more than two decades of on-the-ground reporting, including time in the Kremlin press pool and as NPR’s Moscow-based correspondent. He is now a senior Ukraine analyst at the International Crisis Group. His book, Putin’s Revenge: Why Russia Invaded Ukraine, published by Columbia University Press, is now available in paperback. Use the promo code CUP20 at checkout for a 20-percent discount.

Timestamps for this episode:

• (02:25) How do you write about Putin’s psychology when his inner world is a black box?
• (09:02) Has Putin’s COVID isolation hardened him permanently?
• (09:48) Why didn’t Putin order a full-scale invasion in 2014, when Ukraine was defenseless?
• (14:24) In an “adhocracy” of freelancers, who bears responsibility for Russian aggression?
• (18:11) Did Putin kidnap ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych or rescue him?
• (23:00) Why frame the conflict as a generational clash over Soviet memory?
• (29:30) Is there still reason for hope in Russia’s younger generation?

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