The Empire Strikes Back

Russia's Attempts To Claim Ukraine

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Photo by Tina Hartung on Unsplash

Special to United Methodist Insight | Feb. 19, 2025

You need to know this: what is occurring in Ukraine is a direct continuation of an imperial tendency that has characterized Russian rule for centuries. From tsars to commissars and the KGB thugocracy of Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin has consistently aimed for one goal: the subjugation of Ukraine as a lesser province within a broader Russian empire. The strategies have changed—sometimes cloaked in Orthodox piety, other times in Marxist language, and now using the deceptive terms of “denazification” and “protection of Russian speakers”—yet the aim remains the same. What has varied is the extent of Western naiveté in failing to see it for what it truly is.

The idea that Ukraine is an extension of Russia did not begin with Putin’s imperial ambitions; it has been a fundamental aspect of Russian statecraft since at least the era of Peter the Great. The Russian Empire, especially under Catherine the Great, reinforced the annexation of Ukrainian territories, effectively erasing the autonomy of the Cossack Hetmanate in the late 18th century. The term Malorossiya—meaning “Little Russia”—became common during this time.

The concept was straightforward: Ukraine was to be absorbed, culturally and administratively, into the expanding Russian state. The Ukrainian language was regarded as a dialect of Russian, and policies were implemented to enforce Russification at every level of society. The 19th century witnessed repeated bans on Ukrainian in print and education. The reasoning was clear: Ukraine was not meant to be ruled by Russia but to be dissolved into it.

The Soviet Union did not represent a departure from tsarist Russian imperialism. From the moment the Bolsheviks took power, they suppressed Ukrainian independence movements with the same brutality as the tsars. Stalin exacerbated this to an apocalyptic extent with the Holodomor, the man-made famine of 1932-33 that resulted in millions of Ukrainian deaths. This was a deliberate act of mass murder intended to undermine Ukrainian national identity by starving its peasantry into submission.

Soviet policy continued its assault on Ukrainian identity, even as Khrushchev—himself of Ukrainian heritage—transferred Crimea to Ukraine in 1954. This was not an act of generosity but rather a largely symbolic administrative decision within an empire that presumed its territorial arrangements were eternal. Ukrainian culture remained suppressed, its dissidents imprisoned, and its national consciousness subordinated to the dictates of Moscow.

If the Soviet era taught us anything, it is that Russian elites mistakenly view Ukraine’s 1991 independence as a historical fluke instead of an expression of national self-determination. Putin struggles to accept the notion that Ukraine is not a rebellious region that requires subjugation.

The 2008 invasion of Georgia, the 2014 invasion of Crimea, and the attack on Ukraine in 2022 reflect a core principle rooted in the ideologies of Tsars and Soviet leaders: Ukraine must not exist independently, as its very existence undermines Russia’s identity as an imperial power. Putin is not interested in reviving the Soviet Union as a political reality—he does not embrace Marxism or Leninism—his goal is to reestablish Russia’s control over its former imperial territories.

Many Western analysts' failure to foresee this situation reflects a myopia similar to the response to Hitler’s remilitarization of the Rhineland. With each of Putin's advances—Chechnya, Georgia, Crimea, and the invasion of Ukraine—there were pleas for “understanding,” implying a diplomatic misinterpretation rather than territorial ambition.

The current war is not an anomaly; it is the continuation of centuries of Russian policy toward Ukraine, presented in different rhetorical forms but driven by the same motivation: the destruction of Ukrainian sovereignty.

If Ukraine falls, it won't be because Russia’s claims are legitimate but because the West fails to heed the lessons of the past. The question is whether someone committed to being on the right side of history will confront this imperial project with the resolve it requires or retreat into the same delusions that have enabled it for centuries.