Empire

=== Russia ===
In the aftermath of the [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation |annexation of Crimea]], political scientist [[Agnia Grigas]] argued that Moscow pursues the policy of "reimperialization."<ref>Agnia Grigas, ''Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire'', Yale University Press, 2015, pp 16, 22.</ref> Two days after the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]], historian specializing on empires, [[Niall Ferguson]], interpreted the policy of Putin as an attempt to bring back the tsarist Russian Empire.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/vlad-the-invader-putin-is-trying-to-recreate-the-tsarist-russian-empire/|title=Vlad the Invader: Putin is looking to rebuild Russia's empire|first=Niall|last=Ferguson|date=February 24, 2022|website=The Spectator}}</ref> By this time, the "neo-imperialism," or "neo-imperial ambitions" of Russia became widely claimed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nationalinterest.org/feature/contending-new-russian-empire-200765|title=Contending With the New Russian Empire|first=David L.|last=Phillips|date=February 25, 2022|website=The National Interest}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/russia-third-empire/|title=Russia's attempt to build a Third Empire|first=Lea|last=Berriault|date=May 6, 2022}}</ref> When Vladimir Putin denies the reality of the Ukrainian state, says another historian of empires [[Timothy Snyder]], he is speaking the familiar language of empire. For five hundred years, European conquerors saw themselves as actors with purpose, and the colonized as instruments to realize the imperial vision.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/the-war-in-ukraine-is-a-colonial-war|title=The War in Ukraine Is a Colonial War|first=Timothy|last=Snyder|magazine=The New Yorker |date=April 28, 2022|via=www.newyorker.com}}</ref>

[[Vladimir Putin]] himself used to state: "For Russia to survive, it must remain an empire."<ref>Nathan Hodge, "Restoration of empire is the endgame for Russia's Vladimir Putin," ''CNN'', June 11, 2022.</ref> In June 2022, on the 350 anniversary of the birth of the 18th-century Russian tsar Peter the Great, Putin has compared himself to him associating their twin historic quests to win back Russian lands. For critics this association implied that Putin's "complaints about historical injustice, eastward Nato expansion, and other grievances with the west were all a facade for a traditional war of conquest" and imperialism. "After months of denials that Russia is driven by imperial ambitions in Ukraine, Putin appeared to embrace that mission."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/10/putin-compares-himself-to-peter-the-great-in-quest-to-take-back-russian-lands|title=Putin compares himself to Peter the Great in quest to take back Russian lands|first=Andrew|last=Roth|date=June 10, 2022|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> On the same occasion, [[Mykhailo Podolyak]], an adviser to the Ukrainian government, suggested Russia's "de-imperialization," instead of Russia's official war aim of "de-nazification" of Ukraine.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/06/13/putin-imperial-russia-empire-ukraine/ {{bare URL inline|date=February 2024}}</ref>

Later that year, [[Anne Applebaum]] approached the new Russian Empire as a fact and opined that this Empire must be defeated.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/12/putin-russia-must-lose-ukraine-war-imperial-future/671891/|title=The Russian Empire Must Die|first=Anne|last=Applebaum|date=November 14, 2022|website=The Atlantic}}</ref> Other pundits described the new Russian Empire as a failed attempt because Russia failed to annex the whole of Ukraine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/?next_url=/ezproxy/r/ezp.2aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZm9yZWlnbmFmZmFpcnMuY29tL3J1c3NpYW4tZmVkZXJhdGlvbi9wdXRpbi1sYXN0LXN0YW5kLXJ1c3NpYS1kZWZlYXQ-|title=The Wikipedia Library|website=wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org}}</ref>