Igor Torbakov explores the nexus between various forms of Russian political imagination and the apparently cyclic process of decline and fall of Russiaamprsquos imperial polity over the last hundred years. While Russiaamprsquos historical process is by no means unique two features of its historical development stand out. First the countryamprsquos history is characterized by dramatic political discontinuity. In the past century Russia changed its ampldquohistorical skinamprdquo three times following the disintegration of the Tsarist Empire accompanied by violent civil war it was reconstituted as the communist USSR whose breakup a quarter century ago led to the emergence of the presentday Russian Federation. Each of the dramatic transformations in the 20th century powerfully affected the notion of what ampldquoRussiaamprdquo is and what it means to be Russian. Second alongside Russiaamprsquos political instability there is paradoxically a striking picture of geopolitical stability and of remarkable longevity as an imperial entity. At least since the beginning of the 18th century ampldquoRussiaamprdquo has been a permanent geopolitical fixture on Europeamprsquos northeastern margins with its persistent pretense to the status of a great power.Against this backdrop the bookamprsquos three sections investigate a the emergence and development of Eurasianism as a form of postimperial ideology b the crucial role Ukraine has historically played for the Russiansamprsquo selfunderstanding and c the contemporary Russian elitesamprsquo exercises in historical legitimation.