We need to talk about why Russia invaded Ukraine

Without this debate, there can be no understanding of what will be needed for a lasting peace, writes Mary Dejevsky

Those who view Russia as an inherently aggressive, imperialist state insist that Russia must be defeated and made to recognise the error of its ways (AP)

There have been many times over the past 10 months when it has seemed an almost indecent luxury to turn away from the harrowing realities of the Ukraine war to contemplate some of the wider questions thrown up by the conflict. The rights and wrongs are so clear: Russia mounted a military invasion of a sovereign country in an attempt to bend it forcibly to its will. It has broken every rule of the international order; it is the aggressor. What more is there to say?

Quite a lot, I would submit. For while there is general agreement about what has happened, and how, there are two quite different, even opposite, views about why.

The first is the view that has dominated what might be called the Western political and media mainstream since the Russians invaded Ukraine on 24 February this year. According to this, the war is a war of aggression. Russia is by its very nature an imperialist power, and its objective is to restore if not the Soviet Union, then the Russia empire. Some pin the blame primarily on Putin, saying the invasion was born of his obsessional belief that Ukraine has always been, and should remain, a (subordinate) part of Russia. Others say it is less about the leader than the country.