Of course! But my point is that Putin seems to truly believe in that portrayal. If you take what he writes in those essays and says in his speeches at face value, then you can see why he takes the actions he does.

Everyone’s actions can be understood by realizing what they feel and believe. That doesn’t justify the actions, but it explains them. Trying to understand what Putin is about is important to making predictions about how he will react to possible courses of action from the rest of the world.