The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace called the essay a "historical, political, and security predicate for invading [Ukraine]".[21] The Stockholm Free World Forum senior fellow Anders Åslund branded the essay as "one step short of a declaration of war."[2] According to Foreign Policy, the essay is a "key guide to the historical stories that shape Putin's and many Russian's attitudes".[22] Historian Timothy Snyder has described Putin's ideas as imperialism.[23] British journalist Edward Lucas described it as historical revisionism.[24] Other observers have noted that the Russian leadership has a distorted view of modern Ukraine and its history.[8][3]