The NATO Precedent: How Russia’s Conceptions of Sovereignty Dictate Strategic Narratives in Ukraine

Abstract

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine spawned an abundance of narratives from Russia in its attempt to justify its actions. Many scholars have established that Russia’s strategic narratives in previous controversial military engagements with former Soviet states have mirrored Western narratives in the 1999 NATO bombing of Kosovo, as well as the subsequent support for Kosovar independence. The breach of Serbia’s sovereignty for humanitarian reasons was contrary to Russia’s foreign policy at the time, but this has changed since. Kosovo was instrumental in shifting Russia’s view on sovereignty away from dominant Westphalian sovereignty focused on territory and recognition towards one focused on citizens and shared values, known as organic sovereignty. This paper will demonstrate that this view of sovereignty not only originated with Western narratives in Kosovo in 1999, but also that has been present in narratives justifying Russia’s involvement in Georgia in 2008, Crimea in 2014, and Ukraine in 2022.

“It is not the territory and borders that I am concerned about but the fates of people.” Russian President Vladimir Putin, 2016.