The Ramsay Centre Podcast: Getting Russia Right – Kyle Wilson

What is Russian exceptionalism? How can we best understand the mindset of Russians and Russian President Vladimir Putin to ensure the most effective response to the war on Ukraine? Is there a path forward to ‘getting Russia right’?

For our fourth Ramsay Lecture for 2024, the Centre is pleased to present an exploration of this topic – a recorded conversation between former Centre CEO Professor Simon Haines, and one of Australia’s foremost Russia experts, the esteemed academic, diplomat and Russian interpreter Mr Kyle Wilson.

In their discussion, the pair draw upon Mr Wilson’s direct dealings with President Putin as well as his research into Russian history and society to explore the mindset that led Russia to invade Ukraine. Mr Wilson posits that President Putin is bent on reaffirming age-old traditions of autocracy at home and empire abroad. Far from being threatened by NATO expansion in its so-called near abroad, Putin is intent on integrating Ukraine into greater Russia. Leading into this conclusion, Mr Wilson and Professor Haines explore the following:

*Mr Wilson’s thesis that contemporary political culture in Russia is a mirror of what Genghis Khan created in the Mongol Empire, a militarised empire where all power resides with an autocrat who is above the law and where people exist to serve the state.

*Russian exceptionalism and how Russians are taught to believe they are unique, ethnically and culturally superior, and owed gratitude for saving humanity on three occasions from Khan, Napoleon and Hitler.

*Why Russia believes the West is mounting a war against it and wants to influence the foreign policy of its small neighbours to the West because of the times it has been invaded from the West.

*Why despite past invasions it is not NATO expansion and fear of invasion that are driving the war on Ukraine but rather Putin’s military strongman mindset and the desire to restore to Russia parcels of lands that it believes it still has right to. 

Please join us for this compelling discussion that seeks to offer better comprehension of the events unfolding in Russia and Ukraine today.