What Vladimir Putin really wants – The Hindu
The West cannot ignore a determined Russian President any more as Moscow prepares for its next act on Ukraine
Catherine the Great, the 18th century Empress Regnant of Russia, once famously said, I have no way to defend my borders but to extend them. Under her reign, the empire continued to grow, encompassing New Russia (the region north of the Black Sea, now part of Ukraine), Crimea, the Caucasus, Belarus and the Baltic region. Empress Catherine, like many of her predecessors, saw a Russia, surrounded by ambitious powers, that was vulnerable to external threats. And her axiom continued to be a guiding principle for several of her famed successors, from Joseph Stalin, who defeated the Nazis and expanded the Soviet boundaries, to Vladimir Putin, who annexed Crimea in 2014 and has now mobilised some 100,000 troops on the Ukraine border.
Russia, the worlds largest country by land mass, lacks natural borders except the Arctic Ocean in the north and the Pacific in the far east. Its vast land borders stretch from northern Europe to Central and north east Asia. The countrys heartland that runs from St. Petersburg through Moscow to the Volga region lies on plains and is vulnerable to attacks. There are practically no natural barriers that stop an invading army from its western borders (Europe) reaching the Russian heartland. In the last two centuries, Russia saw two devastating invasions from the west the 1812 attack by Napoleonic France and the 1941 attack by Nazi Germany. Russia defeated them both, but after suffering huge material and human losses. After the Second World War, Russia re-established its control over the rim land in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, which it hoped would protect its heartland. But the disintegration of the Soviet Union threw its security calculations into disarray, deepening its historical insecurity. This insecurity is the source of what historian Stephen Kotkin calls the defensive aggressiveness of Russian President Putin.
Editorial | Talking to Russia: On Putin and NATO
When the Soviet Union collapsed, which Mr. Putin termed the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, Russia lost over three million square kilometres of sovereign territory. The entire rim land was gone, and the heartland lay vulnerable to future threats. In the last months of the Soviet Union, to calm the nerves of a badly hurt but still breathing Russian bear, the West promised that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would not expand an inch to the east. The United States and the United Kingdom repeated the pledge after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But despite the promises, NATO continued expansion. In March 1999, in the first enlargement since the end of the Cold War, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (all were members of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact) joined NATO. Five years later, seven more countries including the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all of which share borders with Russia were taken into the alliance. Russia saw this as a direct challenge to its security. If in the early 1990s, NATOs border with Russia was limited to the northern strip of Norway, now, the distance from NATOs Estonian border to St. Petersburg, the second most populous city in Russia that was the Tsarist capital, is less than 160 kilometres.
Russia felt threatened but was not able to respond. For Mr. Putin, who inherited a weak state with a crumbling economy and a directionless foreign policy in 2000, the first job was to fix the state. But in 2008, when the U.S. promised membership to Georgia and Ukraine in the Bucharest summit, Russia, which was coming out of the post-Soviet retreat, responded forcefully. For the Kremlin, both Ukraine and Georgia are critical for its national security calculations. The distance from the Ukrainian border to Moscow is less than 500 kilometres. NATO has already come close to St. Petersburg. And if Ukraine joins the alliance, the heartland would come further under threat.
Moreover, take a look at the Black Sea, which traditional Russian rulers saw as a Russian lake. Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania, all Black Sea basin countries, are NATO members. Ukraine and Georgia are the other countries that share the Black Sea coast, besides Russia. Russia was already feeling squeezed on the Black Sea front, its gateway to the Mediterranean Sea. If Ukraine and Georgia also join NATO, Russia fears that its dominance over the Black Sea would come to an end. So, in 2008, Mr. Putin sent troops to Georgia over the separatist conflict in South Ossetia and Abkhazia; and in 2014, when the Kremlin-friendly regime of Ukraine was toppled by pro-western protesters, he moved to annex the Crimean peninsula, expanding Russias Black Sea coast, thereby protecting its fleet based in Sevastopol in Crimea. That was the loudest statement from Mr. Putin that Russia was ready to take unconventional measures to stop further NATO expansion into its backyard.
In recent years, Mr. Putin has tried to turn every crisis in the former Soviet region into a geopolitical opportunity for Russia. South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the self-proclaimed republics that broke away from Georgia, are controlled by Russia-backed forces. In Ukraine, the eastern Donbas region is in the hands of pro-Russian rebels. In 2020, when protests erupted in Belarus after a controversial presidential election, Mr. Putin sent assistance to the country to restore order. In the same year, Russia sent thousands of peacekeepers to end the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, re-establishing its strategic dominance in the Caucasus. Earlier this year, Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, with Mr. Putins backing, manufactured a migrant crisis on the Polish border of the European Union. And this month, when violent unrest broke out in Kazakhstan, the largest and wealthiest country in Central Asia, its leader turned to Russia for help and a willing Mr. Putin immediately dispatched troops (under the banner of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO) to quell the protests.
The geopolitical realities of the present also favour Russia. The U.S.s ignominious withdrawal from Afghanistan has left the Central Asian republics deeper in the Russian embrace. While Europe is vocal in its rhetorical opposition to Russias aggressive moves, it is very much dependent on Russian gas, which limits its response. Moreover, the Wests inability to inflict any serious damage on Russia over its Crimea annexation appears to have emboldened Mr. Putin further.
For years, the West, the winner of the Cold War, discounted Mr. Putin as a thuggish tactician who does not understand strategy. Mr. Biden called him a killer after taking office last year. But when the Wests response to Russia was lost in what academic Walter Russell Mead called a narcissistic fog of grandiose pomposity, Mr. Putin was steadily rebuilding the lost Russian influence in the rim land. By destabilising Georgia and Ukraine and re-establishing Russias hold in Belarus, Caucasus and Central Asia, Moscow has effectively stalled NATOs further expansion into its backyard. The West cannot ignore him any more. Rather, it faces an urgent question of how to deter him as Russia is preparing for its next act on Ukraine.
Having failed to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, NATO is unlikely to pick a war with Russia over Ukraine. The Kremlin also knows this. One weapon that is readily available to western policymakers is more economic sanctions. But Mr. Putin, who has already deepened Russias ties with China, a Cold War rival, to balance against the Wests economic coercion, seems to be ready to pay the economic price, whatever little it is, to meet his strategic goals. This sets the stage for a perpetual crisis in the Russian rim land. Unless the West re-establishes its deterrence, Mr. Putins defensive aggression would continue.
View original post here:
What Vladimir Putin really wants - The Hindu
- 'There's a solution to the migrant crisis that Keir Starmer is not willing to do - to deport' - GB News - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Balearic migrant crisis; another body found floating in the sea between Ibiza and Mallorca - Majorca Daily Bulletin - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: More than 20,000 small boat migrants have crossed English Channel so far this year - GB News - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- The UKs other migrant crisis as number of international students increases by 66% - Daily Express - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Mallorca migrant crisis: shackled bodies linked to a boat that arrived in Alicante - Majorca Daily Bulletin - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Lined up and waiting to cross the Channel for a new life in UK, NEIL SEARS reports on the migrant crisis from Gravelines, near Calais - Daily Mail - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Keir Starmer blasted over handling of migrant crisis as small boat crossings pass 20,000: 'There's no real strategy!' - GB News - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Qatari camel herder tried to rape woman in London heart clinic while being treated - GB News - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Refugees Ministry Urges Trilateral Talks with Iran and UN Over Migrant Crisis - - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- Out Now DocuBay Original: Gateway of Europe The Migrant Crisis - International Business Times UK - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Emily and Tom stunned as illegal migrants made to watch PowerPoint on how to respect women - GB News - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Britain's migrant crisis being fuelled by Putin's Russia and other hostile states in secret plot to destabilise UK - The Sun - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Gateway of Europe The Migrant Crisis: DocuBays Hard-Hitting New Original Is Now Streaming - ABC Money - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Gateway of Europe The Migrant Crisis: DocuBays hard-hitting new original Is now streaming - Adgully.com - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Now Streaming on DocuBay: Gateway of Europe The Migrant Crisis - Passionate In Marketing - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Reform UK threatens 'day of reckoning' over migrant crisis as 'laughing' French police oversee 'disgraceful invasion' - GB News - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Gateway of Europe The Migrant Crisis reflects on the challenges faced by migrant - Social News XYZ - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- DocuBay unveils trailer for Original Gateway of Europe: The Migrant Crisis - Adgully.com - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- DocuBay Announces its Next Original Documentary - Gateway of Europe - The Migrant Crisis - Streaming Exclusively on June 20 - The Tribune - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Docubay Unveils Trailer Of Its Powerful New Original gateway Of Europe The Migrant Crisis - Passionate In Marketing - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- The British state is hiding information about the migrant crisis from YOU, says Matt Goodwin - GB News - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- True scale of Britain's migrant hotel crisis EXPOSED as petition to halt asylum spend hits 300,000 - GB News - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- 'Elite mindset' and left-wing opinion fuelling migrant crisis says Nick Ferrari as he slams the government - lbc.co.uk - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- Well never weather the migrant crisis without a new excuse - The Times - June 4th, 2025 [June 4th, 2025]
- Ex-border chief delivers 'very easy solution' to solve migrant crisis in UK: 'I need them to listen!' - GB News - June 4th, 2025 [June 4th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Heidi Alexander grilled by GB News host on Labour's record figures - 'The numbers were coming down!' - GB News - June 4th, 2025 [June 4th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Britain faces drinking water shortages in just TEN years due to mass immigration - GB News - June 1st, 2025 [June 1st, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Mark White explains why net migration halving is NOT a win for Labour - 'It would be wrong' - GB News - May 28th, 2025 [May 28th, 2025]
- Fury as Keir Starmer fails to vote to end migrant crisis 'can't be bothered!' - Daily Express - May 15th, 2025 [May 15th, 2025]
- The French have 'allowed the migrant crisis to happen', Armstrong claims - GB News - May 14th, 2025 [May 14th, 2025]
- 'Exodus' warning as Yvette Cooper blames business for migrant crisis - Daily Express - May 14th, 2025 [May 14th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Michelle Dewberry erupts over Britain's 'direction of travel' with taxpayers set to shell out for rent - GB News - May 5th, 2025 [May 5th, 2025]
- 'Labour want to reimpose free movement by stealth and make the migrant crisis worse' - GB News - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Number of small boat migrants hits TEN THOUSAND in 2025 with PM's 'smash the gangs' plan in tatters - GB News - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- Keir Starmer's answer to the migrant crisis is to pay their rent, council tax and energy bills - Kelvin MacKenzie - GB News - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- Trump official calls for Americans to be paid reparations over trauma caused by Biden's migrant crisis - Daily Mail - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Top Donald Trump ally calls for US citizens to receive reparations for Biden's migrant crisis trauma - GB News - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Keir Starmer issued firm warning over very foolish act as PM sweats over migrant crisis - Totally irrational - GB News - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: HUNDREDS more migrants arrive in Britain on Good Friday as record week for crossings grows again - GB News - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Somali criminal asylum seeker allowed to stay in Britain as deportation would 'stress him out' - GB News - April 14th, 2025 [April 14th, 2025]
- Britain will be 'unrecognisable in 10 years' if migrant crisis continues, Brooks claims - GB News - April 14th, 2025 [April 14th, 2025]
- The bombshell move that could end the Channel migrant hotel crisis - Daily Express - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- France FINALLY admits it can do more to stop Channel crossing crisis after pocketing 500m for migrant 'taxi service' - GB News - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- NYC Hotel That Symbolized Migrant Crisis to Fire Most Workers - Bloomberg - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Albanian criminal allowed to stay in Britain as his son could have a learning disability - GB News - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- Migrant Hotel Crisis to Drag On for Years, Treasury Confirms - The Global Treasurer - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- Trump takes 'nuclear option' at southern border to solve America's migrant crisis once and for all - Daily Mail - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- Migrant Crossings Surge Over 5000 This Year Amid Crisis - Evrim Aac - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- 'Labour has finally acknowledged that a space elsewhere is required to solve the migrant crisis' - GB News - March 26th, 2025 [March 26th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Tourists from Trinidad and Tobago BANNED from Britain without visa amid soaring asylum applications - GB News - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- POLL OF THE DAY: Should Labour concentrate on the Channel migrant crisis rather than Ukraine? - GB News - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- The Roosevelt Hotel Closure: A Wake-Up Call for Blue Cities to Rein In the Migrant Crisis - Independent Women's Forum - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- AOC asks host to clarify when he refers to the migrant crisis as a 'problem' for Democrats - Fox News - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: French government to do more to stop Channel crossings as Macron set to lift ban on stopping boats at sea - GB News - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Trumps DOJ to toss NYC Mayor Eric Adams historic bribery case, agrees with Dem charges were politically motivated by Biden admin over migrant crisis -... - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Asylum seeker on the run for 18 years finally caught after police pulled car over - GB News - February 12th, 2025 [February 12th, 2025]
- One in four people in UK set to be a migrant by 2035 with taxpayers to fund 234billion crisis, study reveals - GB News - February 9th, 2025 [February 9th, 2025]
- Canadas Migrant Crisis Spills Over to US, Raising Concerns: The BorderLine - Daily Signal - February 7th, 2025 [February 7th, 2025]
- NYC Mayor Eric Adams begs Albany for $1.1B more to combat migrant crisis and says Big Apple needs it in 12 weeks - New York Post - February 5th, 2025 [February 5th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Britons fume at growing numbers five years on from Brexit - 'Invasion of rubber dinghies!' - GB News - February 5th, 2025 [February 5th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Failed asylum seeker wins right to stay in UK because of wife's kids fathered by another man - GB News - January 27th, 2025 [January 27th, 2025]
- Promise kept: How Trumps border orders are reversing the migrant crisis - New York Post - January 24th, 2025 [January 24th, 2025]
- Chicago resident who sued city over migrant crisis says 'change is on the horizon' after Trump's inauguration - Fox News - January 24th, 2025 [January 24th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: More than 1,000 migrants have crossed Channel since New Year - GB News - January 24th, 2025 [January 24th, 2025]
- Active-duty troops begin arriving at US-Mexico border in Texas and California to combat migrant crisis - Fox8tv - January 24th, 2025 [January 24th, 2025]
- Massachusetts Migrant Crisis: Governor Healy Ignores the Elephant in the Room - Federation for American Immigration Reform - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Albanian criminal allowed to remain in Britain despite being convicted of smuggling migrants into UK - GB News - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Migrant crisis: Germany's AfD pledge 'total closure of borders for 100 days' and mass deportations of immigrants as election draws closer - GB News - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- How we searched for solutions to our migrant crisis hundreds of miles to the north in Toronto - Chicago Sun-Times - December 30th, 2024 [December 30th, 2024]
- NYC migrant crisis: For a migrant father and his sons, a year of struggle, fear and hope in New York - Newsday - December 30th, 2024 [December 30th, 2024]
- Operation Sluice and the migrant crisis as preparation for full-scale aggression - StopFake.org - December 30th, 2024 [December 30th, 2024]
- Adams says Dems missed the memo on migrant crisis and it hurt the party - PIX11 New York News - December 22nd, 2024 [December 22nd, 2024]
- 'I welcome the border czar in Chicgao': Activist sounds off on illegal migrant crisis in the Windy City - Fox News - December 22nd, 2024 [December 22nd, 2024]
- The real cause of the migrant crisis is neither migrants nor smuggling gangs - William Clouston - GB News - December 22nd, 2024 [December 22nd, 2024]
- Fox News finds a way to tie UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting to migrant crisis in New York City - The Independent - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- GOP lawmaker on migrant crisis: The left is being mugged by reality - MSN - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- GOP lawmaker on migrant crisis: The left is being mugged by reality - Fox Business - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Eric Adams may be New Yorks best hope for tackling the migrant crisis - UnHerd - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- NYC Mayor Eric Adams will meet Trump's border czar and discuss migrant crisis next week - MSN - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Fox anchor baselessly ties the shooting of the United Healthcare CEO to the migrant crisis - Media Matters for America - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]