What Putin’s Russia fears most of all

When Vladimir Putin called the collapse of the Soviet Union ‘a major geopolitical disaster of the century’ he wasn’t channelling his inner Marxist-Leninist. Russia’s leader is not interested in remaking the Soviet empire, which finally fell apart 30 years ago today, on Boxing Day 1991. But he does want to roll back the losses of the post Cold War era, expand Russia’s sphere of influence, and build a buffer zone around the homeland. It’s this that explains Russian aggression on the borders of Ukraine. While western observers might like to paint this as mindless sabre-rattling, the reality is that this massing of troops is driven by fear – and the memories of past encroachments onto Russian soil.

Understanding this is key to realising what Putin is up to. Russia’s leader is a politician whose nationalism has been on display in every foreign policy move throughout his time in power. During the 1999 Kosovo War it’s thought he was one of the foreign policy hawks successfully urging president Yeltsin to send an armoured column to Pristina Air Base ahead of Nato troops arriving.