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Russia’s war is undermining the world order

Since 2014, Moscow has been transforming global affairs in the interests of international revisionism. This has already caused considerable damage to international law and the global rules-based order. In fact, the political implications of Russia’s attack reach far beyond Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

Going into its 11th year of war against Ukraine, the results of Russia’s attack on its alleged “brother nation” are ambiguous for the Kremlin. On the one hand, its image as a supposed military superpower has suffered greatly. Since 2022 the war has become an international embarrassment for the Russian leadership, army and weapons industry. Moscow’s campaign in Ukraine also led to the loss of western partners, markets and investors.

May 6, 2025 - Andreas Umland - Hot TopicsIssue 3 2025Magazine

Illustration by Andrzej Zaręba

These and other setbacks will have far-reaching regional, geopolitical, economic and possibly domestic political consequences for Russia.

On the other hand, a number of partly ignored, partly underestimated results of Russia’s Ukraine policy have weakened the international order and the West. Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24th 2022, to be sure, also led to a partial consolidation of the West. For example, NATO and the EU have moved closer together in light of Russia’s escalation; western countries have supplied military and other support to Ukraine; Finland and Sweden have joined NATO; and the EU has started membership negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova alongside granting candidate status to Georgia. This has all been done in response to Russia’s aggression.

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