This is the second episode in a 3-part series marking the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Thirty-five years ago, a better world seemed possible. The Cold War ended, Soviet Communism collapsed, and Russia seemed on its way to free markets and democracy. It did not work out. Today, Vladimir Putin’s Russia is an authoritarian police state at war with its neighbors. Russia, as a result of missteps on either side of Europe's new dividing line, is left out of the "Western club" it once tried and failed to join. It may be hard to recall now, but after the Cold War, throughout the 1990s, and even into the first years of Putin’s rule, the U.S. and Russia tried to link arms to create some kind of new European security order based on trust and cooperation. In this episode, historian Vladislav Zubok unpacks the complexities of Russia's recent past and its fraught relationship with its neighbors.

Recommended reading: 

Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union by Vladislav Zubok

Chronology of U.S.-Russia Summits by U.S. State Department