Putin is desperately trying to reverse Russia’s population crisis and sees Ukraine as a solution, experts say

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Numerous factors have been floated to explain Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, including NATO’s expansion in Eastern Europe and a desire to restore Soviet-era might.

But Ivan Krastev, chair of the Center for Liberal Strategies in Bulgaria, and Stephen Holmes, a law professor at New York University, argue President Vladimir Putin’s obsession with Russia’s demographic decline may be the key.