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Putin Singled Out as Pariah at D-Day Event
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
June 6, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Meeting for the first time at a D-Day event
in Normandy, France since getting booted out the G8, 61-year-old Russian
President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s 48-year-old billionaire chocolate baron
newly elected President Petro Poroshenko brushed elbows with German Chancellor
Angela Merkel looking on.
Petroshenko would like Putin to call back the pro-Russian separatists in Eastern
Ukraine, continuing to fight for independence or joining the Russian Federation. Annexing Crimea March 1 has cost Putin untold billions, all because he retaliated for the
pro-Western coup against Russian-backed Viktor Yanukovich Feb. 22. Instead of permanently annexing
Crimea, Putin should have asked for the long-term lease on Russia’s Sevastopol
Black Sean navy base and other guarantees for Russian interests. Seizing Crimea exposed Putin’s
lingering Soviet contempt for former satellites.
Meeting head-to-head with Poroshenko, Putin insisted that the Ukrainian
army must be called back before he would discuss any coordinated peace efforts. Invited as a personal guest of
French President Francois Hollande, Poroshenko has the sympathies of Western
Europe, hoping to restore some sanity in Ukraine. Putin’s invasion of Crimea prompted
all kinds of comparisons to Hitler before he invaded Eastern and Western Europe
in the 1930s. While Putin resents
the comparison, he brought the whole mess on himself when decided to invade
Crimea March 1. Since then, Putin’s
been on the defensive, justifying his decision and whipping up more anti-Western
sentiment in Eastern Ukraine. Putin
needs to ask himself whether the rewards of annexing Crimea were worth the costs
of alienating a United States and Europe, both vital to Russian economic growth.
Putin’s hasn’t processed what it means to get booted out of the G8, where
the world’s most powerful nations no longer see Russia as a legitimate trading
partner. Coming face-to-face to
Poroshenko was the perfect chance for Putin to make an overture to Ukraine’s
duly elected president. No matter
how much Putin believes the Ukrainian elections were fixed, Poroshenko is the
legitimately elected leader of Ukraine.
Whatever happened Feb. 22 while Putin hosted the Sochi Winter Olympics,
it’s all water under the bridge.
Putin’s decision to annex Crimea must be open for eventual negotiation to return
the area back to Poroshenko.
Western leaders want Putin to play a more active role in reining in Ukraine’s
pro-Russian separatists currently seeking to vote on independence or joining the
Russian Federation. Putin knows
that taking on former Soviet satellites is a costly proposition.
U.S. and EU officials need to tone down the rhetoric and give Putin some
time to come to his senses. He’s
already put the Russian Federation so far out on a limb that even the Kremlin
questions Putin’s wisdom. Meeting
with Putin on the sidelines of the D-Day event, President Barack Obama should
reach out to Putin to help rehab himself in the eyes of world opinion. His recent overtures to North Korea
show that the former KGB agent continues to alienate his former Western
partners. Putin’s recent attempts to circumvent the West, go directly to China and North Korea to
make up any lost energy sales with the West, shows the extent of Putin’s failed
public relations. Putin’s path to
acceptability is holding a summit with Poroshenko and finding common ground for
return Crimea to Ukraine. Whatever Putin’s past mistakes, he must find a way back into the mainstream.
Obama should host a White House summit with Poroshenko to discus the
conditions for returning Crimea and deescalating the unrest in Eastern Ukraine. Putin pushed things too far turning
himself and Russian into a Pariah state, regardless of how he tries to build
alliances with other rogue states.
If Putin want the Russian Federation back in the mainstream, he must do more
that blame the U.S. for advancing an aggressive foreign policy. It’s one thing to invade Iraq under the pretext of Sept. 11, it’s still another to annex
Ukraine claiming he’s protecting Russian interests. Putin asked Poroshenko to show “good
will” and “state wisdom” in calling back Ukrainian forces from attacking
pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine.
Returning Crimea to Ukraine would no doubt get Putin invited back to the
G8 where the Russian Federation stands to advance more global economic progress.
Putin’s miscalculation annexing Crimea has cost the Russian Federation
dearly getting ejected from the G8, watching the ruble shrink and Russian stock
market drop. If Putin wants to save
the Russian Federation from becoming a pariah state, he needs to work with
Obama, the EU and Poroshenko to figure out an acceptable fix to undo the damage. Putin knows that it’s not in his
interest to alienate Russia from the U.S. and EU. To have any legitimacy, Putin cannot
be seen as a menace in his own neighborhood, especially when dealing with former
Soviet satellites. Whatever
happened in 1991 to end the Soviet Union, Putin can’t blame the West. If he wants to right the Russian
ship, Putin needs to follow the same compass as Gorbachev and Yeltsin who saw
the merits of détente and economic collaboration with the West. Working toward giving back Crimea
would be a positive step.
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