Influence of the Idea of Kievan Rus on Putin’s Populist Policy

There have been Russian leaders throughout history who firmly believed that it was their duty to “collect the Russian lands,” or the land of the Rus. Some have just utilized the concept to support Russia’s aspirations to dominate the world. Vladimir Putin refers to Idea of Kievan Rus a “civilizational choice” which shaped the future of Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. It created what he calls a “common spiritual space,” an Orthodox Russian space distinct from the Latin, Roman Catholic world. Recently, President Putin appropriates a new foreign policy doctrine based around the concept of a “Russian World,” a notion that conservative ideologues have used to justify intervention abroad in support of Russian-speakers. This article explores how the Russia President Putin to justify his designs on Ukraine and Belarus and referred it to what Russians call the Kievan Rus.