This issue is on the downplaying of Russian nationalism, misinterpretations of the 2014 crisis, sympathetic portrayals of Crimea's occupation, and the use of the term civil war rather than RussianUkrainian war for the Donbas conflict.

Western academics, experts, and journalists specializing in Eastern Europe and Eurasia have grappled with two fundamental analytical crises in connection with the 1991 disintegration of the USSR and Russia's 2014 invasion of Ukraine. Both crises were brought about by similar lack of understanding by scholars, think tank experts, and journalists of Moscow's relations with its neighbors. Typically, they were characterized by a downplaying of the historic and current role of Russian great power nationalism. The authors of this issue of JSPPS investigate how the Kremlin's recent turbo-charging of Russia's information warfare, 24-hour TV, and social media activity has expanded on traditional pro-Russian sentiments among Western academics, experts, and journalists. The contributors analyze the downplaying of Russian nationalism, misinterpretations of the 2014 crisis, sympathetic portrayals of Crimea's occupation, and the use of the term civil war rather than RussianUkrainian war for the Donbas conflict in academia as well as the think tank world and media in the UK, Germany, Poland, Japan, USA, and Canada. The list of contributors includes: Olga Bertelsen (Tiffin University, Ohio), Paul D'Anieri (University of California at Riverside), Sanshiro Hosaka (University of Tartu), Andrei Znamenski (University of Memphis, Tennessee), and Sergei I. Zhuk (Ball State University, Indiana).

Autorentext
Andreas Umland, M.Phil. (Oxford), Dr.Phil. (FU Berlin), Ph.D. (Cambridge), Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs in Stockholm, Senior Expert at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future in Kyiv, and Associate Professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Taras Kuzio is Professor of Political Science at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy and Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society in London. He is the author and editor of 22 books, including Russian Nationalism and the Russian-Ukrainian War (Routledge 2022), The Sources of Russia's Great Power Politics (E-IR 2018, with Paul D'Anieri), Putin's War Against Ukraine (University of Toronto and Dukh i Litera 2017, 2019), Ukraine: Democratization, Corruption and the New Russian Imperialism (Praeger 2015), Democratic Revolution in Ukraine (Routledge 2009), Ukraine - Crimea - Russia (ibidem 2007), and Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives on Nationalism (ibidem 2007). Kuzio has guest-edited special issues of Communist and Post-Communist Studies, East European Politics and Society, Demokratizatsiya, Eurasian Geography and Economics, Nationalities Papers, Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, and Problems of Post-Communism.