Moscow’s calls for elections in Ukraine cannot disguise Russia’s true aims: flip the perception of victim/aggressor roles, disguise Russia’s aggression as a quest for peace, and hijack democratic processes to legitimise blatant land-grabs. Lately, Moscow’s mouthpieces have seemingly been making many overtures to peace. The Kremlin has sensed an opening to hijack the global narrative on negotiating peace in Ukraine. Rightly or wrongly, Moscow sees the current geopolitical constellation as an