The ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War has been a twofold conflict. It has been a physical military conflict within the borders of Ukraine, while at the same time it has been a propaganda war within and beyond those borders, reaching (or “overreaching”) across Europe and across the Pacific into America.
Owen Matthews has been covering the fight in Ukraine and the reactions in Russia; in fact, he has been working in Moscow as a journalist for more than a quarter century. His book “Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine” is a tour de force that provides a historical synopsis of the geopolitical power struggle between the two nations, insight into why the Ukraine government (along with other European nations) didn’t believe an attack was imminent, and how and why Vladimir Putin did the unthinkable.
A Brief Personal History
Matthews’s history of Russo-Ukrainian tensions includes his familial ties that go back more than a century with the Bibikov family of Ukraine. The reader gets the sense that the author is not merely a hawk for Russian and Ukrainian affairs, but is in many ways similar to American historian George F. Kennan in his ability to connect and explore these complex matters. It is Matthews’s gift for, and expertise in, telling both sides of the story (in Russia and Ukraine) that separates him from most others.The author focuses predominantly on the post-Khrushchev era, specifically right before and right after the fall of communism in 1991. The era of Joseph Stalin is mentioned, but only peripherally. Matthews discusses the economic, military, and even emotional fallout of the collapse of the Soviet Union. “Overreach” provides the reader an insight into Russia’s plight of the 1990s—a plight that has been underdiscussed and even dismissed by global leaders when considering modern affairs in Eastern Europe. Matthews marks the importance of this decade by tying the recourse of this collapse with the rise of Putin.
Putin brought prestige and promise back to Russia via military victories in Chechnya, Georgia, and Crimea. The author makes it unmistakable how important these victories—starting with the Chechen War—were to the Russian people. It not only brought a sense of global self-worth back to Russia after the humiliation of the Soviet collapse, but it also placed Putin on a pedestal. With Putin heralded so highly among his countrymen, his decrying of NATO’s expansion could be seen by the Russians as everything he believed it to be: a threat to Russian sovereignty.
Matthews contrasts the West’s late-1990s promises that NATO was not expanding with the early 21st-century NATO additions of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. NATO’s expansion along with Georgia’s Rose Revolution soured NATO’s relations with Russia. A fatal collision seemed inevitable. The inevitability seemed to hinge on Ukraine.
The Ukraine Invasion
Russia’s dependence on Ukraine has created strife around Ukraine’s independence. As Ukraine seemed to move closer to NATO, Putin believed himself obligated to move in on Ukraine. Under the ruse of a “special military operation,” he made a claim of “Russian genocide,” which was a mere echo of his reason for invading Chechnya, Matthew says.According to Matthews, the plan for a Ukraine invasion had been in place for decades. It came down to timing. The author lists a number of reasons why the timing seemed perfect: Russia’s military effectiveness, a seemingly weak leader in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Afghanistan disaster demonstrating U.S. military ineptness, the United Nations’s seemingly lack of enthusiasm about coming to the aid of Ukraine (this proved true in the early days of the war), the ongoing chaos and uncertainty of the pandemic, an inner circle of Putin yes-men, and a $650 billion war chest readied for inevitable sanctions.
Along with a historical analysis, Matthews pores over contemporary intelligence commentary from Russia, Ukraine, NATO, and the United States. He cites numerous pro- and anti-Russia leaders and citizens to provide the reader with a sense of the war’s reception. In so many ways, Matthews has assembled the quintessential journalistic view. It’s a view from many angles rather than a single narrative.
Putin had done well to position Russia where it needed to be on the world stage. But his aggression, stemming from either resentment, hubris, or both, is summed up quite well when Matthews writes: “Putin’s tragedy―in the literal, Greek-drama sense where the hero is the author of his own downfall―was that his every move accelerated and precipitated the very thing he feared the most, which was a flight of his frightened neighbors into the arms of NATO.”
A Strange War
The author demonstrates how his 25-plus years’ experience in the region has connected him with locals in Russia and Ukraine, intelligence agencies around the globe, and the network of power in the Kremlin. The war began as a “denazification” campaign to rid Ukraine of Nazis and end “Russian genocide.” According to Matthews, Putin and his Russian troops anticipated a welcoming Ukrainian public and a comedian-turned-president to turn coward.The opposite, however, proved true. Matthews takes the reader through the skirmishes, battles, and random executions during the war. He expresses the dismay of citizens and power players alike at the sudden attack. He also shows the determination with which the Ukrainian people fought back and how European leaders, along with American leaders, threw their support behind Zelensky after expecting the war to end with a Russian victory in a matter of days, if not hours.
Social media usage, citizen soldiers, and the threat of nuclear weapons are just some of the strange and interesting elements of this ongoing conflict. Matthews captures so much of it by being the man on the ground. His work, “Overreach,” is the eyes and ears for a populace relatively close and very far away from the conflict. While individuals across the globe are fed propaganda from Russia, Ukraine, their own governments, and media outlets—as well as from social media influencers and viral videos—Matthews has done a service to provide a clear-eyed perspective on the war, the tensions that will more than likely go unresolved even after the war, and the future of Putin. (Matthews notes that he more than likely is Russia’s indispensable man.)
“Overreach” is an insightful read, full of a nuanced understanding of both the Russian and Ukrainian perspective. It is sure to be an important source for years to come about what happened on Feb. 24, 2022, and the years that followed. It is a must-read.
