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What does Putin want to achieve with the Ukraine war? Expert sees three possible targets - and "great danger"

2022-02-25T09:36:24.256Z


What does Putin want to achieve with the Ukraine war? Expert sees three possible targets - and "great danger" Created: 02/25/2022, 10:24 am By: Marcus Mäckler What are the goals of Russian President Vladimir Putin's attacks on Ukraine? © Mikhail Klimentyev/dpa The West didn't want to admit it for a long time, but now it's a fact: Vladimir Putin is plunging Eastern Europe into a new war. What a


What does Putin want to achieve with the Ukraine war?

Expert sees three possible targets - and "great danger"

Created: 02/25/2022, 10:24 am

By: Marcus Mäckler

What are the goals of Russian President Vladimir Putin's attacks on Ukraine?

© Mikhail Klimentyev/dpa

The West didn't want to admit it for a long time, but now it's a fact: Vladimir Putin is plunging Eastern Europe into a new war.

What are the goals of the Kremlin ruler?

Munich – For this small man, size is of central importance.

That's why Vladimir Putin* isn't sitting anywhere on Monday, but in a swanky pillared hall, in front of him a heavy desk, then nothing for a long time.

He has to speak into a microphone so members of his Security Council can hear him.

They sit 20 meters away, reverently, almost shy – he calls them one by one, like schoolchildren for a report.

Ukraine crisis: What does Putin want to achieve with Russia's attacks?

The scene says a lot about the man who plunged the peace continent of Europe into the Ukraine war.

Putin keeps even his closest advisors at bay.

It is also a mystery to insiders who the President of Russia is still listening to these days, in the Ukraine crisis*.

“If he consults with anyone, it is with God,” the head of the Moscow Carnegie Center, Dmitry Trenin, recently told

Der Spiegel

.

This is how he sees himself, in dialogue with God.

This is what makes Putin's actions so unpredictable, especially his plans for Ukraine*.

The question is: What does he want to achieve with the war?

He himself always finds other reasons for the Russian behavior.

Sometimes fear of NATO has to serve as an argument, sometimes alleged aggression by Ukraine.

On Monday, in an almost hour-long TV speech, he denied the neighboring country's right to exist using pseudo-historical arguments.

He justified the attack on Thursday with an alleged threat of genocide, from which he had to protect the Ukrainians.

The aim of the "military operation" is the "demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine".

Ukraine war: Putin causes escalation - "considers himself a historical figure"

Putin seems to have strayed far from reality.

"He is no longer accessible to rational arguments," Stefan Meister, Russia analyst at the German Society for Foreign Policy, told our newspaper.

"He thinks he's a historical figure." And as such, he apparently thinks he's on a historical mission.


Meister assumes that Putin has three goals: "He wants to abolish Ukraine as a sovereign state and bring it under his control" - whether with the help of a puppet government or by integrating the country into the Russian Federation is unclear.

Secondly, he is concerned with expanding the Russian zone of influence.

The Kremlin ruler has repeatedly claimed, most recently in his speech on Monday, that the neighboring country is under US control – and he now wants to change that.

In the medium term, Putin is also looking at other countries, such as Georgia or Moldova, for the same reason.

"There is a great danger for these post-Soviet states," says Meister.

The Baltic States and Poland are therefore not safe in the long term either.

Their NATO membership could have serious consequences.

Ukraine crisis: does Putin want to bring Russia back to its former glory?

But Putin's motives could be much broader - there is no shortage of explanations.

Some consider his fear of the burgeoning of functioning democracies in the neighborhood to be crucial.

Others believe in domestic political motives.

Wars have always helped Putin to consolidate his power at home, says Kamil Galeev of the Wilson Center in Washington.


And then there is Putin's quest for old greatness*.

He famously called the collapse of the Soviet Union the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the past century.

He seems to want to revive at least their sphere of influence.

"The point here is that Russia is demanding a different world order," military strategist William Alberque told Der Spiegel.

Given the large number of troops on the Ukrainian border, he doesn't think Putin will stop in the east of the country.

"This setup is obviously there to terrorize the West."

In response to Putin's aggression - the West must prove its unity

None of this contradicts itself - the agglomeration of motifs is part of the horror.

The West now stands there, terrified, looking for answers.

"We now have to use everything we have," says Stefan Meister.

Exclusion of Russia from the Swift payment system, strengthening of Ukraine as a state.

That's only possible with the USA.

The West's new unity now has to prove itself.

(mmä) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-02-25

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