The Bronze Horseman, the iconic equestrian statue in Senate Square in St Petersburg, was commissioned by Catherine the Great in honor of Peter the Great, the city’s founder. The pedestal of the statue bears a laconic dedication, “To Peter the First, Catherine the Second, 1782”. Does Putin want to be the third, Vladimir the Great? And is that ambition, expansion at any cost, the real reason behind the war in Ukraine? According to Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, “Putin only cares about what will be written about him in history books.”