Ukraine has suffered devastation from the war unleashed by Russia in February this year. The invasion was mainly to get a pro-Moscow government installed in Kyiv and stop the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) expansion to Russia’s doorstep. President Vladimir Putin is hated in Washington for his strong-arm tactics and his success in getting Moscow to pull much above its weight in international affairs.

The Cold War may be over, but the animosity between the United States and a much weakened Russia is being resurrected, more so since Putin emerged as a powerful figure after a succession of weak leaders following the breakup of the Soviet Union. As long as Russia remained weak and distracted at home, Washington had no problems. But over 22 years of Putin’s rule, sometimes as president or sometimes as prime minister, he has resurrected the country’s image and made Russia a player on the global stage. The earlier cooperation between Russia and the US broke down decisively after the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

As a consequence, the annexation convinced the US and Europe that Russia has  shed none of its Cold War belligerence. With Joe Biden as president, a man whose political career spanned the decades of intense rivalry between the US and the former Soviet Union, the Cold War has now been revived. 

In fact, Russia took back what it gave to Ukraine in 1954. Crimea was gifted to Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union, by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to strengthen brotherly ties between them.

Basically, the war in Ukraine is all about the defence architecture of Europe and Russia’s fears that the continued expansion of NATO, which began much before  Crimea, threatens its security. NATO’s inclusion of Ukraine would for Russia mean the ‘enemy’ is literally at the gates.