On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in an escalation of the Russo-Ukraine conflict that began eight years earlier. But the roots of the conflict began long before that historic date.

The origins of the Russo-Ukrainian War can be traced back through a sequence of events to the early 1990s that lead us not to Russia or Ukraine, but to the other side of the Atlantic. In 1994, the White House, under President Clinton, embarked upon the expansion of NATO, urged on by the new governments of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, who sought the security NATO could offer against Russia. Even at this early stage, the United States was secretly considering Ukraine for membership. When the likelihood of this emerged, President Putin of Russia made absolutely clear that this was a red line not to be crossed. But few expected the war that eventually came.

In Hubris, Jonathan Haslam, one of the world's greatest experts on Russian foreign policy and espionage, examines one of the most intractable issues of our time.

Jonathan Haslam is a leading scholar and writer, specialising in the history of the Soviet Union. He was the George F. Kennan Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton from 2015 to 2021. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, Emeritus Professor of the History of International Relations, Cambridge University and Life Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Haslam is the author of many celebrated books, including The Spectre of War and Near and Distant Neighbours.