The Russians view Ukraine joining the EU as an existential threat and yes, there's ways to explain that economically but they're much more concerned withe the prospect that Ukraine, which occupies a very particular place in the Russian national mythos, would be lost to the West forever

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Like I don't want to say Russian leadership *never* talks about this but the whole thing with the humiliation of the 90s is it's ultimately about the loss of empire and there's an economic angle to it but it's mostly the international prestige/map blob thing that drove them insane

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This is why it's more than a little puzzling to see self-identified leftists ally themselves with Russia. The modern Russian state doesn't look to the USSR for guidance; it looks to the Tsar, who was, almost unfailingly, the most reactionary man in all of Europe

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Putin and his cronies don't want to emulate the USSR, because that comes with all these annoying nationalities attached. They want to return to the Tsar and the good old days of Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality, because the Russian people are the special children of God

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It's not putting it lightly to say that they truly believe that if not for Lenin, Ukraine would never have been "created" (and any Ukrainian—or anyone who knows anything about Ukrainian history—will tell you Ukraine did not originate with Lenin)

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