Liberalism in Crisis
Putin is contemptuous of Liberalism and sees it as the cause of the decline of the West. He views it as "decadent and obsolete", considers the European Union the bearer of this decadence, and believes he is protecting Ukraine and Russia from this decadence of the West and its fate. For Putin the conflict in Ukraine is not only political but cultural, and the culture wars in the West are fuel for his confidence and intransigence.