Executions, torture of prisoners, forcible removal of children, obstruction of evacuation, shelling of civilians, hospitals, and infrastructure… During the 15 months of the war, the army of the Russian Federation committed almost all types of crimes mentioned in the Geneva Conventions. The General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine has opened more than 80,000 proceedings related to war crimes. Ukraine demands the creation of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression, which it calls ‘the mother of all crimes’. But what crime is Russia actually committing? What exactly is it trying to destroy, persecuting volunteers, representatives of local self-government, and everyone who does not agree to the occupation? The purpose of this conversation is not to establish the legal qualification of crimes that are prescribed in international conventions but to understand the nature of the great war of the 21st century.