The Causes Of The Conflict Between Russia And Ukraine From The Perspective Of Misperception

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine officially broke out on February 24,2022,when Russia launched a special military operation against Ukraine.As the largest international conflict since the Cold War,the Russia-Ukraine conflict has been widely concerned by the academic community and become a hot topic of research.This paper follows the international hot spot closely,starts from the misperception,provides a political psychology explanation logic for the conflict between Russia and Ukraine..Russia-ukraine is a typical big country and small country,and the relationship between Russia and Ukraine is a typical asymmetric relationship.This paper firstly sorts out the history of Russia-Ukraine relations from the perspective of asymmetric concern and misperception.It holds that the asymmetry of power leads to the differences in the two countries’ concern patterns,and the misperception of Russia and Ukraine is very easy to produce.Russia and Ukraine have enjoyed three decades of strategic stability because each side believes that its minimum demands are respected by the other:Russia demands Ukraine’s compliance,while Ukraine demands Russia’s respect for its autonomy.The outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is the product of the repeated intensification of systematic misperception.The misperception between Russia and Ukraine is rooted in the fact that both Russia and Ukraine impose their own perceptions on each other,making it difficult to see things from the other’s point of view beyond their own limitations.Russia’s misperception stems from Ukraine’s imminent NATO membership,and Ukraine’s misperception stems from Russia’s perception of power and empire.Russia judged Ukraine to be intransigent and a challenger to Russia;Russia’s actions have been interpreted in Ukraine as a deliberate attempt to undermine Ukraine’s autonomy.Russia’s intentional or unintentional interference in Ukraine strengthens Ukraine’s perception of Russian threat and stimulates Ukraine to seek NATO’s support to cushion the threat from Russia.Ukraine’s stark opposition solidifies Russia’s strategic judgment that Ukraine has become a challenger and stimulates Russia to suppress Ukraine’s ambitions with its strength.The spiral of misperception escalated,and the strategic mutual suspicion between the two sides became increasingly serious,further falling into the spiral mode of systematic misperception.In order to suppress Ukraine’s ambition,Russia exerted maximum pressure on Ukraine at the unilateral level,which was embodied in economic sanctions against Ukraine,military reinforcement of military deployment on the border of Russia and Ukraine,blocking Ukraine’s offensive in diplomatic opinion,and confrontation with Ukraine in cyberspace.On the bilateral level,it is competing with the United States and NATO.In the face of aggressive Russian pressure,Ukraine has been forced to respond by turning the perceived threat into momentum and strengthening ties with NATO to cushion the threat and maximize the negative impact of Russia.As the tension between Russia’s aggressive demands for Ukrainian compliance and Ukraine’s demands for autonomy becomes more irreconcilable,conflict becomes inevitable.The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is a tragedy of multiple failures and has a negative impact on the whole world and all countries.To comprehensively resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict,all countries should uphold the principle of national sovereignty,abandon the Cold War mentality,initiate dialogue and negotiation,and stop unilateral sanctions.Looking ahead,the great power game between Russia,the United States,the European Union and NATO will persist in Ukraine for a long time.