There is finally one more detail worth noting; fundamentally, Russia is dying. It’s been well-established that Russia has suffered from a severe brain-drain in recent decades, but what is perhaps less obvious is that the nation’s population is declining at an alarming rate. Since the 1990s, Russia’s population has decreased by two million people, all while alcohol consumption, crime, and poverty rates have continued to skyrocket.

Since coming to power in 2000, President Vladimir Putin has been very vocal about his commitment to stemming the decline. The government has feverishly provided financial assistance and monetary enticements to Russian women willing to have babies. “Putin is obsessed with this demographic issue,” demographer Laurent Chalard told France 24 News “In his mind, the power of a country is linked to the size of its population. The larger the population, the more powerful the state.”

Whether it be for perceived historical justice or very real demographic concerns, Russia has concluded that in order to fully assimilate occupied Ukraine, it must first annihilate it culturally and politically. Ukraine, as a national identity distinct from Russia, cannot co-exist in the retro-czarist fantasy that Putin is pursuing. Instituting a national policy of mass-migration from their communities to foreign lands reflects his profound delusional obsession with resurrecting the Russian Empire. What is being done is not the extermination of a people, but of a people’s identity.