Grandstand. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is pushing Europe into a danger zone it hasn’t known for decades. Vladimir Putin’s revisionism, leading him to the virtual denial of Ukraine’s right to exist, led him, on Monday, February 21, to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, then, on Thursday 24, to launch a massive invasion.
A follower of the resolution of disputes by violence, Vladimir Putin had put in place, in the previous weeks, all the ingredients of a plan of political, military and economic coercion, playing with provocation and threat, while practicing duplicity. during meetings with his Western counterparts. Now it’s the outbreak of an outright war with a former Soviet republic that wanted to live as a democracy.
In France, the benevolence of the extremes
Viscerally hostile to democracy, flouting international law, attacking our own security interests, Putin nevertheless benefits from the benevolence of our extremes who, on the left and on the right, question our alliances, share the same anti- American or are fascinated by the autocrats, even plead – in spite of the war unleashed against Ukraine – in favor of an alliance with him. Other circles of our political class cultivate a disturbing ambiguity.
The Ministry of the Armed Forces had however been very clear about those who threaten our interests by publishing its ” Strategic update in January 2021. Russian disinformation campaigns, components of hybrid strategies aimed at challenging the international order, and the unraveling of arms control treaties are pointed out there bluntly. Through its intimidation practices and its destabilizing military capabilities, Russia is described there as a power which must be the subject of our greatest vigilance. The most recent news confirms the magnitude of the threat.
Numerous acts have confirmed this analysis: a coup against Georgia in 2008 (a country now amputated by 25% of its territory!), annexation of part of Ukraine in 2014, violent clandestine actions on the soil of European countries in Vrbetice, Czech Republic (2014), or Salisbury, England [où l’ancien agent double russe Sergueï Skripal et sa fille Ioulia avaient été empoisonnés au Novitchok], in 2018, cyberattacks and electoral manipulation in the United States (2016), or violation of the treaty on intermediate-range nuclear forces. In short, an international gangster behavior, which strikes the Ukrainian people today.
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