Anne Applebaum: “We have to get Russian money and influence out of our political systems”

The American historian and journalist Anne Applebaum has written, among other books, a monumental study on Stalin's policy that caused more than three million deaths from starvation in the Ukraine between 1931 and 1933

(Debate) and the essay on autocracies again stamp

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, Applebaum offers five keys by email to situate Putin's attack on Ukraine.

1. Why has Russia attacked Ukraine?

Putin has invaded Ukraine because that country's determination to become a democracy is a clear challenge to the nostalgic project of imperial politics that he proposes, that is, the creation of an autocratic kleptocracy, in which he exercises full powers, in something similar to the old Soviet empire.

Ukraine undermines this project by its mere existence as an independent state, and by fighting for something better, for freedom and prosperity.

Ukraine's "revolution for dignity" in 2014 — when a corrupt and lawless president fled the country — is exactly the kind of revolution Putin fears.

He knows that if Ukraine were to succeed in its democratic drive and EU integration, the Russians might wonder, why not us too?

2. Why has diplomacy failed?

We imagine that Putin is a political leader like our leaders, that he seeks the best for his fellow citizens.

But he is not.

Putin's goal is not a prosperous, prosperous and peaceful Russia, but a Russia in which he remains in charge.

He doesn't care if the Russians are poor, he only cares that they are docile.

He doesn't care about sanctions either, because they don't threaten his position, his power, or his personal fortune.

More importantly, his previous experience with Western sanctions has made him skeptical.

3. Are sanctions useless?

Despite all we say, no one has seriously tried to end, but rather to limit, Russian money laundering in the West, or Russia's political and financial influence in our territories.

Nobody has taken seriously the idea that the Germans should become independent from Russian gas, or that France should ban political parties that accept Russian money, or that the UK and the US should prevent Russian oligarchs from buying property in London or Miami. .

No one has suggested that the proper response to Putin's information war against our political system should be an information war against his.

4. How far can this assault you have undertaken go?

This is not just an attack on Ukraine, but on the post-World War II world order, on the agreement that in Europe at least borders are not forcibly changed.

Putin already did this in 2014, but we mistakenly thought that his ambitions were limited.

Now we see that they are unlimited.

They can extend to Poland, the Baltic countries or even to Germany.

A few years ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Munich Security Conference that German reunification was "illegal."

Everybody laughed.

I don't think he was joking.

Putin remembers when the Soviet Union had a huge presence in East Germany, he was part of it.

He may be nostalgic for that time, as he is nostalgic for the rest of the Soviet empire.

5. What should the West do?

This is the moment when Europe and the United States must totally rethink our strategy towards Russia.

We need to get Russian money and influence out of our political systems, sanction all the oligarchs around Putin, confiscate their property in the West, and stop them from doing business in our countries ever again.

Germany and the rest must end their dependence on Russian gas.

There can be no return to commercial "normalcy" with Russia as long as the occupation of Ukraine lasts.

We need to rethink the location of NATO troops, and take the defense of Eastern Europe and Germany much more seriously and prepare public opinion for increased military spending and the possibility of a Russian attack.

We need a new and different strategy.

How can we reach the ordinary Russian population?

How can we support the opposition and the media?

Where else inside and outside Russia can we put pressure on Putin and his cronies?

How can we make him react to us and not the other way around?

Finally, Europe needs a common foreign policy.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy has failed in his talks with Russia, and this also represents a failure of European capitals to support him.

Unless Europe manages to speak with one voice, it will be divided and further weakened by this crisis.

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