Russia's Military Interventions in Georgia and Ukraine: Interests, Motives, and Decision-Making

In Russia's Military Interventions, Elnur Ismayilov analyzes Russia's recent military interventions in Georgia and Ukraine by assessing the driving factors – the interests fueling Russian involvement and the decisions that fostered the resulting wars. Ismayilov covers the creation and transformation behind Russia's post-Soviet perspectives on Ukraine and Georgia and explores the panorama of post-Soviet Russia's foreign policy from the 1990s up to the turbulent present, in which Ukraine and Georgia's pro-Western orientations have remained a core concern of the Kremlin. Thoughtfully, Russia is fighting against being rated as a declining regional power and confronts a palpable clash of Russian nationalism and Western liberal democracy.