Russia, the west, and the Ukraine crisis: three contending perspectives

The purpose of this special issue is to examine the international dimension of the Ukraine crisis. The focus is on Moscow’s actions towards Ukraine, and what they imply for European security and Russia–Western relations more generally. This introductory article takes stock of the current debate. Three major positions are identified, here labelled ‘revisionist Russia’ (Perspective I), ‘victim Russia’ (Perspective II), and ‘troublemaker Russia’ (Perspective III). The first sees Russia as an aggressive, neo-imperialist power that wants to overturn Europe’s post-Cold War order. The second holds that Russia is a status-quo power that defends its geopolitical interests and honour against Western encroachments. The third views Russia as a mischief-maker, whose ruling elite purposefully creates external conflicts, such as the one in Ukraine, to divert attention from internal problems. This article presents the arguments of each perspective. Moreover, it discusses gaps and limitations of the existing positions along with some policy tradeoffs. Finally, it provides an overview of the entire special issue and lays out how the individual contributions that follow address the identified shortcomings.