Introduction: New Forms of Coercive Power in the Putin Era

Abstract

Russian power and its projection has been a key concern for international interactions since the birth of the modern state system. The downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 over Eastern Ukrainian territory on 17 July 2014 brought the ire of the international community upon President Vladimir Putin’s Russian government.¹ British Prime Minister David Cameron likened Russia’s actions, which include supplying the ethnic Russian separatists fighting the Ukrainian government as well as annexing the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014, with the early warning signs that sparked both world wars of the 20^th century. “In a way, this is what we see today in Europe. Ukraine is a country recognized by the United Nations, a country which has and should have every right to determine its own future…it has the right not to have its territorial integrity impugned by Russia.”² United States President Barack Obama, referring to the separatists whom he acknowledged were being supported by Russia, called the tragedy “an outrage of unspeakable proportions.”³