Putin Weaponizes 1,000-Year History to Justify Ukraine War, Dutch Researcher Says
Updated
Updated · Freedom · Jun 2
Putin Weaponizes 1,000-Year History to Justify Ukraine War, Dutch Researcher Says
1 articles · Updated · Freedom · Jun 2
Niels Drost of the Clingendael Institute said Putin has turned a selective reading of roughly 1,000 years of history into a tool to justify Russia’s war on Ukraine and win support at home and abroad.
Drost said the Kremlin narrative denies Ukraine’s sovereign legitimacy by portraying Ukrainians and Russians as “one people” and much of Ukraine as historical Russian territory, arguments Putin has repeated publicly, including in his Tucker Carlson interview.
Those claims intensified after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and became a central pillar of the justification for the full-scale invasion launched in 2022, he said.
Speaking at a security conference in The Hague, Drost warned that Europe faces a broader Russian hybrid campaign—propaganda, disinformation, influence operations and sabotage—and said understanding those narratives is essential to counter them.
With US support uncertain, can Europe's new defense pledges truly counter Russia's escalating hybrid warfare?
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From Ukraine to NATO: The Impact of Russian Hybrid Warfare and Historical Revisionism on European Stability (2022–2026)
Overview
As of June 2026, Russia is waging a multifaceted conflict that began with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has since evolved into an aggressive hybrid warfare campaign targeting NATO territory. This campaign uses cyber operations, political manipulation, and sabotage, but experts believe Russia has not yet used its full capabilities. Looking ahead, President Putin is expected to escalate these efforts into a full-fledged offensive against NATO within the next two years. This ongoing and evolving strategy highlights a persistent threat to European security, extending far beyond Ukraine’s borders.