A Critical Analysis of Russia’s Justification for the Invasion of Ukraine

This paper explained the underlying mechanisms of the global political economy that have led to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It is thus an alternative perspective to those that see Vladimir Putin’s specific psychological qualities as the driving force behind this occurrence. To provide a more balanced assessment, it is important to go back to the Cold War era in the history of the struggle between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). For this paper, Realist Theory was used. Finally, the genuine emotive anger over Putin’s aggressiveness smashed any lingering notions about the order in post-Cold War Europe, leaving Ukraine and the West unsure how to respond while Russia revelled in its fait accompli and began to accept its isolation.