How can one build a new, pan-European security structure, as O’Hanlon and Shapiro proposed, with someone who sees everything the West represents as his biggest threat?
Giving Putin any say over his neighbors’ policies would be the height of irresponsibility, yet O’Hanlon and Shapiro proposed holding a referendum to determine Crimea’s future. Instead, the West should stick to its policy of nonrecognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, even if it takes years to return the region to Ukraine, just as it never recognized the absorption of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union. Since 2004, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have been proud members of NATO and the European Union — and are no doubt thankful they have security guarantees from the alliance’s Article 5 in light of Russia’s rising threat.
The source of tensions between the West and Russia lies with the nature of the Putin regime. To justify his invasion, Putin fabricated stories that Russian speakers and ethnic Russians, first in Crimea and then in eastern Ukraine, were under threat. In reality, no such threats existed. Putin did not cite NATO enlargement — in large part because nobody was discussing the idea of Ukraine joining the alliance. NATO had nothing to do with Putin’s decision.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member