The virtual talk is part of a series of 5 experimental engagements by Centre for Contemporary Challenges at the University of Pecs, Hungary. The first two of it were hosted by Indian Institue of Science, Bengaluru, and the second by Bangalore International Centre. This will be the third experimental engagement in which Dr Samir Puri will virtually talk on the topic ‘A Contemporary view on the War in Ukraine’.

Tracing the relationship between the two countries from the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 to Putin’s invasion in 2022, what emerges from Dr Samir Puri’s book, Russia’s Road to War with Ukraine (Biteback Publishing, 2022), is a portrait of a nation caught in a geopolitical tug of war between Russia and the West. While Russia is identified as the sole aggressor, we see how Western bodies such as the EU and NATO unrealistically raised Ukraine’s expectations of membership before dashing them, leaving Ukraine without formal allies, and fatally exposed to Russian aggression.

As a former international observer, Samir Puri was present for several of the major events covered in his book. He uses this experience to ask honestly:

How did we get here?
Why does Vladimir Putin view Ukraine as the natural property of Russia?
Did the West handle its dealings with these countries prudently?
Or did it inflame the tensions left amidst the ruins of the Soviet Union?
Were there any missed opportunities to avert the war?
And how might this conflict end?