Aside from the near-complete devastation of a sovereign state and reversal of the global balance of power, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is leading to a radical transformation in the Eastern European and Eurasian regions – including Russia itself.

The 13 chapters in this volume examine the main geopolitical consequences of the resurgent imperialist aspirations of the Russian Federation. They examine the ideological tools of history falsification as an integral part of hybrid warfare. Turning to the economy, the book discusses how the war and economic sanctions imposed on Russia are redrawing the geopolitical map and how economic relations would change following a regime transformation. The book discusses the reactions of members of the international community to the invasion, whether threatened or neutral parties or allies. The collection therefore offers a comprehensive picture of the main consequences of the resurgent imperialist aspirations of the Russian Federation. Equipped with the conceptual tools of the analysis with a focus on the patronal features of the political-economic system, the book considers the aftermath of the war.

This collection complements the book entitled Ukraine's Patronal Democracy and the Russian Invasion.

Chronology of Russia (1985-2022)

Foreword by Kirill Rogov

I. Russia’s Patronal Autocracy: Ideology and Sociology of Imperial Warfare

Elites in the war and after Putin (Nikolay Petrov)

Socially Inclusive and Exclusive Warfighting: Comparing Ukraine and Russia’s Ways of War (András Rácz)

The Falsification of History: War and Russian Memory Politics (Zoltán Sz. Bíró)

Enter the “Bloody Clown”: Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky in the Lens of Russia’s Media Machine (Kostiantyn Fedorenko)

Authoritarian Deflation: How Russia Lost the Information War against the West (Péter Krekó, Boglárka Rédl)

II. Geopolitical Structures and the War: The Changing Position of Russia and Ukraine

In the Gravitational Tensions of East and West: The Systemic and Geopolitical Integration Patterns of Ukraine and Moldova (Kálmán Mizsei)

Neo-Backwardness and Prospects for Long-Term Growth: The effects of Western sanctions on Russia and the changing embeddedness of Ukraine in the world economy (Dóra Győrffy)

The politics of energy and natural resources in Ukraine (Dmytro Tuzhanskyi)

Forced Displacement of Ukrainians during the War: Patterns of Internal and External Migration (2014-2022) (Oksana Mikheieva, Viktoria Sereda, Lidia Kuzemska)

III. The International Community: Patronal and Non-Patronal Responses to the War

Crescent Rising? The Baltic, Romanian, and “V3” Reaction to the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war (Zsombor Zeöld)

Hungary’s Dubious Loyalty: Orbán’s Regime Strategy in the Russia-Ukraine War (Bálint Madlovics, Bálint Magyar)

Defensive Submission, Lucrative Neutrality, and Silent Detachment: Post-Soviet Patronal Autocracies in the Shadow of Russian Invasion (Anatoly Reshetnikov)

The Russia-Ukraine War and China: Neutrality with Imperial Characteristics (Gyula Krajczár)