Russia and the world: the weight of the Ukrainian question

Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 launched a high intensity war that represents one of the major conflicts of the post-cold war period. How can we explain a decision so fraught with consequences? What does this aggression say about Russia's relationship to its former empire and about its ability to waive a neo-imperial model? What does it say about the tools Russia mobilizes to shape its international environment? The purpose of this article is to attempt to answer these questions by exploring Ukraine's place in its relation to the world, and by questioning singularities of the Ukrainian issue. By mobilizing history and historiography, such exploration means replacing the Ukrainian question in Russia's power project. It confirms the impact of perceptions and representations in international relations.