Eurasian Empire: The role of Eurasianism in Russian Foreign Policy on Ukraine 2014-2022

This paper looks at the relations between Eurasianism and Russian Foreign Policy on Ukraine from 2014- 2022 through the discourse of the Russian president in speeches after the annexation of Crimea on 2014, before the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and before the mobilisation in September 2022. Eurasianism as a concept or ideology is not actively communicated as a way forward or ideological path from the Russian president. However, many of the ideas of the west as the Other, the return of imperial ambitions, and partly the disrespect of sovereignty of other Eurasian states than Russia are ideas that also find support in Eurasianism. Eurasianism, its movements and its ideas are tools that Russia increasingly have used in its foreign policy since 2014. The neo-imperial aggression that led to escalated war and a dramatic mobilisation in 2022, draws on Eurasianism ideas and finds support in them. This demonstrates an aggressive neo-imperialistic approach that is a threat to world peace, has destroyed Ukraine for many years to come, destabilised the international society and in addition brought isolation, instability, and major protest waves to Russia