Almost no country in the West is immune from this shame. After 2016, America’s shame is obvious, but the feeling is no less marked in Europe. In Britain, we have the shame of Russian oligarchs buying up our homes and our newspapers, and even finding their way into our Parliament. In France, long after the appalling nature of the Putin regime became clear, the country’s leaders shamefully convinced themselves that they could talk him round. Emmanuel Macron was even happy to attend the World Cup final in Moscow alongside Putin just months after the Russian leader had ordered the deployment of a chemical weapon in Britain.

In Germany the shame is perhaps most evident. The leading power in Europe cannot find the strength to lead, cannot fund its military properly, and is only now finding the courage to separate its economic interests from its responsibilities to the Western alliance that ensures its security. But across Europe the same story can be seen: in an Italian politician wearing a Putin T-shirt, an Austrian politician dancing with the Russian leader at her wedding, the Hungarian prime minister cozying up to him in Moscow. Everyone knows how disgraceful this behavior is, but even now we struggle to come to terms with our baseness, seeking ways to avoid the inevitable pain that will come with any meaningful sanctions on the Russian state.

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We were warned. In the 21 years since President George W. Bush declared Putin a man he could trust—having apparently peered into his soul—the Russian leader invaded Georgia, backed Assad in Syria, intervened in the U.S. election, annexed Crimea, armed separatists in Ukraine (who then shot down a Dutch aircraft), assassinated enemies in Britain and Germany, and, then, finally, launched a full-scale invasion of a sovereign European country. And still leaders across the West—among the populist right and the populist left, from Donald Trump in the U.S. to the Stop the War Coalition in Britain—defend, explain, excuse, or even praise Putin.