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It’s hard to read the mind of a dictator, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying.

When Russian President invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, there were a million columns, videos and podcasts explaining “the real reason” for such a “crazy” move.

Well, anyone who tells the story from February 2022 is missing decades of Russian interference in Ukraine, with low points coming during the Orange Revolution of 2005 and then in 2014. The Euromaidan protests ended with the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych and Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

But what made Putin take that next step eight years later?

Lucian Kim is a journalist with vast experience in the region, working in Berlin and as NPR’s bureau chief in Moscow. If you can trust anyone to know what brought the world to war, it’s him—hell, he wrote a book on the subject: Putin’s Revenge: Why Russia Invaded Ukraine.

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