The latest book published by the historian Armand Gauchu- Putin, obsession with empire (Publishing house Polisher, Iasi, 2022 – entered the market in early November. The volume contains an anthology of articles written by the author in the period 2006-2022. Appeared in the weekly 22 and so on contributors.ro.

Without a doubt, Armand Gauchu is currently the most qualified analyst of what is happening in Russia and the entire post-Soviet space, Russia’s relations both with the West and with the countries that were once part of the USSR. . Especially Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Belarus. Armand Goshu is a good Russian speaker, so he has direct access to the Moscow press. This means that it does not depend on what is written on all these topics in English. In addition, he has completed a documentary internship in Russia several times, and Soviet studies and Russian studies are his academic specialization.

2006-2022 means the period that includes at least part of Putin’s first two presidential terms. And the time when he was the prime minister, and Dmitry Medvedev was the president. As well as the events that took place after Volodymyr Volodymyrovych returned to the Kremlin, making changes to the Constitution in his own interests. The place where it still is, but no one can say exactly how long from now.

Naturally, in the period from 2006 to 2022, Armand Goshu repeatedly wrote about the sinusoid of Russian-Ukrainian relations. He commented and analyzed the events of the period when Putin spoke with theatrical emotion about the “fraternal Ukrainian people”, which it was more than natural for Russia to help by supplying it with gas at a price much lower than the market price, and what happened after that. Ukrainians did not vote in the presidential elections for the Russian-backed candidate Viktor Yanukovych, preferring the pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko. Thus, it thwarted Moscow’s plans for further control over Kyiv. In his analysis, Armand Gossou focused on the violent occupation of Crimea and how Ukraine became “Russia’s punching bag”, he followed the evolution match Russian-Ukrainian between 2012 and February 2022, and what happened after. The last sequence of the book is called Ukraine. From the gas pipeline dispute to the war with Russia. The last comment in the above sequence is called Ukrainian counteroffensive. Putin is hiding his empire and appeared in the magazine 22 September 20, 2022. The comment ends with the sentence: “Putin has set his country back at least two decades. Today’s Russia no longer belongs to the civilized world. Maybe that was all special operation designed by the Russian president: destroy Russia. If that was his plan, then he succeeded. “.

Putin, obsession with empire also has a Preface, dated October 16, 2022. That is, called almost a month before Putin had to swallow the great humiliation of withdrawing from Kherson. According to many analysts, this could be a signal that Putin’s days in the Kremlin are numbered. In this preface, Armand Gochu draws attention to the huge distance between that Putin, who, once in power, dreamed and even loudly promised the restoration of the empire, and Volodymyr Volodymyrovych, who, under the current state of affairs, would have every chance of getting into the future history textbooks. gravedigger of Russia.

However, it is exactly this path that Armand Ghosh’s book retraces with maximum attention and is strictly documented. He does this by clarifying and arguing what kind of empire Putin dreamed of. Yes, it is true, Volodymyr Volodymyrovych once said that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest historical catastrophe of the 20th century. He never forgave Mikhail Gorbachev for this, and this could be seen with the naked eye in his behavior on the occasion of the death of the last Soviet president. But Putin never wanted to rebuild the Soviet empire. He was not going to be a new Lenin, another Stalin or an alter ego of Brezhnev. Empire, at the restoration of which he struggled Putin, who has so often deceived the West, who once saw him as a well-intentioned political leader, has been the same since Tsarist times. See sequence for this Russia and the West. Revenge time. Naturally, after that there was an exorcism. One that couldn’t be more dramatic.

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