His Sudetes

On the eve of possible negotiations with US President Joseph Biden, Vladimir Putin put forward a very clear condition that should reduce tension in relations between Russia and the civilized world.

There is nothing new in this condition. If the West does not want a new big war, it must surrender Ukraine - and Georgia at the same time. This is how one can translate from the diplomatic language the requirement to "document in writing" the guarantees of NATO's non-expansion to the east.

It is not worth looking for logic in these demands of Putin. Why should some states decide for others which unions they should join? NATO, on the other hand, did not demand that Belarus or Kazakhstan not join the CSTO, although their refusal would have made life much easier, first of all, for the peoples of these countries themselves. Why, for example, Latvia's accession to NATO did not turn out to be a disaster for Russia's national security, while Ukraine's accession will turn out to be, although a rocket launched from Riga reaches Moscow faster than a rocket launched from Kharkov? What should a treaty look like in which some states promise others not to accept third countries into their defensive alliance? Why should Russia be consulted at all about not its own membership in NATO, but about inviting third countries into the alliance? Doesn't Putin himself understand that such a demand is evidence of the most ordinary political madness that has nothing to do with reality?

He understands everything very well. But he also understands something else. If Ukraine continues to cooperate with the West, if it carries out reforms, if it is supplied with the latest weapons, if it is accepted into NATO, then it will be more difficult to destroy it. And it needs to be destroyed, because Ukraine is Russia. Again lack of logic, again political madness? But this is Putin.

And since there are no logical arguments for forbidding the Ukrainian people to choose their own path, in order to force the West to agree to Russia's right to dictate to other states their foreign and domestic policies, he fears war. He scares with war - this means: he is ready to kill not only Ukrainians or Georgians. Ready to kill the Russians. But in order to destroy what he considers Russia, the Russians are not sorry.

We used to often compare the occupied Crimea with the Sudetenland captured by Hitler after Munich. But in fact, Crimea is only a small part of Putin's Sudetenland. His Sudetenland is the whole of Ukraine. And if she is not given to him, he is ready to drown her in blood. And not only her. What will happen if Ukraine is sacrificed, we already know very well from the results of the agreements with Hitler. In 1938, it seemed to Chamberlain and Daladier that they had averted a major new war in Europe. In 1939, it was already blazing everywhere.

If Ukraine does not resist Putin's shameless pressure, if the West refuses to support it and protect its own values, it will be exactly the same this time.