Ukraine’s Revolt, Russia’s Revenge (Brookings Institution Press), by Christopher M. Smith

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Ukraine’s Revolt, Russia’s Revenge

Christopher M. Smith’s book arrived on time and a month too late. Ukraine’s Revolt, Russia’s Revenge is timely for its insights into Putin’s agenda, but history moved faster than the printing press. The worst that could be imagined has occurred.

Smith was a U.S. Foreign Service officer at the Kyiv embassy from 2013-2014 as protestors and politicians moved Ukraine away from Russia’s orbit toward the European Union and NATO. He had a good perch from which to observe events. Unlike some State Department officials over the past oh, two centuries, Smith seems to have gained a firm grasp on the country where he was posted.

Ukraine’s Revolt, Russia’s Revenge includes an accurate thumbnail sketch of the region’s history, showing the cultures of Ukraine and Russia have long been interwoven. With the rise of nationalism in the 19th century came questions of Ukraine’s status as a province of the Russian Empire. With the Bolshevik Revolution came the Soviet Union, the prison house of nations. Ukraine suffered special punishment under the Stalin-engineered famine (the Holodomor) costing millions of lives. The Soviets played games with borders, expanding Ukraine into formerly Polish territory and handing it Crimea, formerly considered part of Russia. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, all parties, including Russia, agreed to support the borders as they existed.

Putin had other plans once he consolidated power in Russia and began a campaign of disinformation against Ukraine, ironically linking the democratically elected government to far right movements. He occupied Crimea and seized predominantly Russian speaking districts in Ukraine’s east. Ukraine’s Revolt, Russia’s Revenge didn’t foresee the all-out assault Putin launched last month.

Smith believes that U.S. foreign policy should have a moral basis but is also cognizant of the limits of American power. “Our influence comes from the fact that we are an example,” he concludes without mentioning the former U.S. president and his impeachable quid pro quo with Ukraine two years ago.