Answering questions at an economic forum in St. Petersburg on the Bering Sea, 62-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed his real reasons for invading Crimea March 1, 2014 and supplying arms and troops in the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine. Calling sanctions over the Russian annexation of Crimea “blackmail,” Putin insisted Russian would not return Crimea to Ukraine. “Crimea and Sevastopol are an integral part of the Russian Federation. It’s time to recognize this as a fact that cannot be changed with methods of economic and political blackmail,” Putin told Rose and hundreds in attendance near the world famous Hermitage Museum. Calling U.S and European Union sanctions “discrimination” and “historical examples of collective punishment,” Putin took no responsibility for violating Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
With all the sanctions, isolation and shunning, Russia has been defiant as ever about taking Crimea for Mother Russia. Putin believes strongly that Ukraine’s Feb. 22, 2014 Western-backed coup, that toppled the duly elected Kremlin-backed government of Viktor Yanukovich, was orchestrated by the CIA. Putin told Rose that the U.S. showed too much euphoria in the wake of the Dec. 26, 1991 end of the Soviet Union, founded Dec. 30, 1922. What irked Putin was the lack of respect showed to Russian Federation since the end of the Soviet Union. “And that is why we are witnessing an expansion of NATO eastwards,” Putin told Rose, referring to steps he had taken to protect Russian national interests. Putin apparently believed Aug. 12, 2008 he had to annex Georgia’s South Ossetia and Abkhazia, fearing that former Georgian President Mikeil Saakaskavili would join NATO.
Putin sees no link between his aggression in Ukraine fostering the paranoia in former Soviet satellites to either join NATO or beef up their security. Seizing Crimea and stationing Russian troops in Ukraine’s Eastern provinces sent shockwaves through Poland and the Baltic States. While Putin sees NATO’s encroachment, former Soviet satellites feel threatened by Putin’s bold aggression, seizing Crimea, insisting it’s an integral part of the Russian Federation. It doesn’t hurt that Crimea is the old home of Russia’s warm-water Black Sea fleet at Sevastopol. Putin told Rose he’s concerned about NATO or U.S. encroachment in Russia’s backyard, threatening to take retaliatory measures should NATO deploy more military personnel and hardware near the Russian border. Putin shows no awareness of the Russian Federation encroaching on Poland and former Soviet satellites.
Putin claims the CIA orchestrated the Feb. 22, 2014 coup that upended the Kremlin-backed government of Viktor Yanukovich. Yanukovich fled Kiev for Moscow under protection of the Russian Federation. Rose asked Putin what it would take to resolve the current unrest in Ukraine that has pro-Russian separatists seeking independence, or at least autonomy, from Kiev’s pro-Western government led by 49-year-old billionaire chocolate baron Petro Poroshenko. Insisting that he backs the Feb. 11 Minsk II Protocol, Putin wants to see Poroshenko make good on his promise to dialogue with Donetsk leader Alexander Zahkarchenko to determine appropriate autonomy of the Donbass region currently controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Without saying it, what Putin really wants is a return to Kiev of another pro-Kremlin leader handpicked by him.
Putin sees the U.S. and EU has unfairly targeting the Russian Federation for economic sanctions. Since invading Crimea last year, Putin’s watched the Russian stock market and currency drop about 30%, pushing the economy into recession. At the St. Petersburg economic summit, there was no real interest to invest in the Russian economy. Putin spoke despairingly about the July 28, 2014 $50 billion judgment by the International Arbitration Court at the Haig against the Kremlin for seizing Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s Yukos Oil Company. With Putin charging certain Russian oligarchs with tax evasion, seizing businesses and incarcerating owners, it’s no wonder Western governments want to stay clear. Russian businessmen know if they mess with Putin, including disagreeing with his policies, they risk phony criminal charges and having their companies seized by the state.
Since Putin can’t get his way reinstating another Russian puppet in Kiev, he wants the U.S. and EU to accept annexation of Crimea and independence of the industrialized Donbass region. Recognizing Zahkarchenko’s rule of Russian areas of Ukraine, Putin’s done in Ukraine what he did to Georgia in 2008. Splitting Ukraine into Western and Eastern blocs, Putin accomplishes his land bridge from Russia to Crimea. While he hasn’t yet invaded Mariupol, the EU and U.S. have been reluctant to provide Poroshenko the military backing needed to reclaim Crimea and Donbass region. Visiting Poroshenko today, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, called on the U.S. to arm Kiev. He’s not concerned about Putin’s reaction nor fence-sitting in Brussels. McCain takes the opposite view of President Barack Obama’s reluctance to get involved.
