"Atrocity envy" is a new concept for me. Dugin's Geopolitics does seem to be the textbook Putin is following, as it calls for the elimination of Ukraine as an independent state:

Wiki

Ukraine as a state has no geopolitical meaning, no particular cultural import or universal significance, no geographic uniqueness, no ethnic exclusiveness, its certain territorial ambitions represents an enormous danger for all of Eurasia and, without resolving the Ukrainian problem, it is in general senseless to speak about continental politics". Ukraine should not be allowed to remain independent, unless it is cordon sanitaire, which would be inadmissible.[9]

I particularly liked its description of the UK as "an "extraterritorial floating base of the U.S." [which] "should be cut off from Europe". The Tory Brexiteers, like Trump, seem to be Putin's greatest allies.

Index of Frank's Diaries