In January 1547, Russia was in the depth of a harsh winter. Lakes and rivers were frozen and visibility was low with raging snowstorms. Yet, inside the Cathedral in Kremlin, there was a blaze of lights and warmth. Oriental splendour put Russian orthodox rituals on sensorial steroids. It was the coronation of 16-year-old Ivan as the autocrat of Russia. If anyone thought the boy could be easily manipulated, they were wrong. To restore the economy of one of the largest landmasses in the world, Ivan unleashed a reign of terror against anyone who went against him. A painful nerve ailment in his spine gave him moments of rage that made him Ivan the Terrible. He first quickly conquered the Caucasus (including present-day Georgia) and then went on to occupy what is today Ukraine.
So, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move to invade Ukraine seems to have been Russia’s strategy for more than 400 years. Ukraine and Russia share the same patron Saint. They spell it differently just as they see their history differently. Russia has always seen and will perhaps continue to see Ukraine as its own. When Ukraine began to achieve greater autonomy in the 1950s, it was an aberration — Nikita Khrushchev, the then Russian leader, had spent his formative years working in Ukraine.
