Russia's Near Abroad

Abstract: This essay combines theoretical insight from critical geo-politics and security studies to create a framework by which Putin’s Russia, his political prescriptions and actions in the international space can better be understood. It describes how the sociospatial entanglement of the post-soviet region that is today known as Russia's ‘near abroad’ intersects with questions about history, identity, ethnicity on the one hand, and security and geo-political anxiety on the other. Combined, these theoretical accounts reveal how Russian apprehension towards NATO involvement in eastern Europe is exacerbated and multiplied by the region’s historically motivated spatial and cultural complexities. By examining speeches made by Putin before his monumental decision to commence the ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine, the narratives and perspectives that influenced this decision are elucidated. The essay reaches the conclusion that complexities in perceptions on security and spatial identity inform a worldview significantly different from the perspectives that are prevalent in the west, and that this helps explain why much of western analysis on the causes of the war has been ambiguous or inconclusive.