|
EU Votes to Punish Russia for Ukraine
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
July 26, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Picking up dismembered human remains from downed
Malyasian Flight MH 17 in an empty field near pro-Russian rebel-controlled
Donetsk, the European Union finally sent Russian President Vladimir Putin a loud
message. Reluctant to go along with
U.S. sanctions against Putin for supporting the pro-Moscow insurgency in
Ukraine, the EU put some teeth into the sanctions, targeting officials and
oligarchs in Russia’s lucrative
energy sector. After seizing Crimea
March 1, Putin has gone rogue, backing pro-Russian separatists, giving them
heavy weapons, including tanks and BUK anti-aircraft batteries that brought down
Malaysian Flight MH 17 July 19.
Grabbing Crimea to protect Russia’s Black Sea port at Sevastopol, Putin
justified violating Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, claiming
the Kiev’s pro-Western government threatened Russia’s national security.
Getting about 30% of its energy from Russia, the EU was reluctant to
follow along with punitive U.S. sanctions, hoping to push Putin to return Crimea
to Kiev and withdraw tens-of-thousands of Russian troops from the Russian border
in Southeastern Ukraine. Russian
officials led by Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the U.S. of a
smear campaign, blaming the U.S. for fomenting the coup that toppled the
pro-Russian government of 64-year-old Viktor Yanukovich. Forced to endure the indignity of
sifting through the body parts under armed-rebel supervision, the Dutch finally
received 193 charred remains back in the Netherlands, nearly two-thirds of the
MH17’s 298 casualties. Dutch Prime
Minister Mark Rutte managed his grief lobbying the EU hard in Brussels to
approve more severe sanctions against Russia for its role in downing Malaysian
flight.
While the forensic evidence and black boxes haven’t been analyzed, U.S.
and EU officials believe Russian separatists armed with Russian BUK
anti-aircraft batteries shot down MH 17, killing 193 Dutch nationals. Russia’s Foreign Ministry reacted
harshly to the EU’s July 26 decision to ratchet up Moscow’s economic and travel
sanctions. All the Russian Foreign Office could do was blame Ukrainian officials for one of the
worst civilian airline disasters in world history. Citing “contradictory mutually
exclusive claims,” the Russian Foreign Office blamed Ukraine. “The United States continues to push
Kiev into the forceful repression of [Ukraine’s] Russian-speaking population’s
discontent. There is one conclusion
– the Obama administration has some responsibility both for the internal
conflict in Ukraine an its severe consequences,” referring to the pro-Western
coup that toppled Yanukovich.
Putin’s narrative to the Russian press assigns blame to the U.S. for
sponsoring the coup the brought down Yanukovich Feb. 22. Had the anti-Russian coup not
occurred, Russia would not have supplied BUK anti-aircraft batteries to Russian
separatists and Malaysian Flight MH17 would not have been shot out the sky. German Chancellor Angel Merkel took
a while to get beyond German self-interest to accept that Putin intimidates too
many countries with military action.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke out strongly in
Brussels backing tougher EU sanctions against Moscow. “After the death of 300 innocent
people in the MH17 crash and the disrespectful roaming around the crash site of
marauding soldiers, the behavior of Russia leaves us no other choice,”
Steinmeier told Germany’s Sueddeutche Zeitung newspaper, backing harsher EU
sanctions.
Putin’s done his best to play Germany’s energy needs against the
principle of taking a stand against a pattern of coercion, intimidation and
aggression. When Putin seized
Crimea March 1, it sent Europe a very different image of the man fondly
referring to the U.S. and EU as his Western partners. When the Putin was booted out of the
G8 March 24, world hadn’t yet absorbed Russia’s transformation as a pariah
state. Placing thousands of Russian
troops on the Ukrainian border, no one knew whether or not Putin intended to
grab more territory in Southeastern Ukraine.
Since the downing of Flight MH17, the world watched Russian separatists
tamper with the crash site, removing key pieces of forensic evidence.
What remains unclear in the extent of
Russian involvement in firing the SA-11 missile that killed 298 folks, including
scores of Malaysians and Australians.
Standing up to Putin, the EU finally took a stand on Russian aggression
in the wake of seizing Crimea March 1 from Ukraine. While there’s little newly minted
49-year-old Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko can do to get back Crimea, the
collective action of the U.S. and EU should finally get Putin’s attention. Whether or not the G20 follows the
G8 banning Russia, Western powers acting together can pressure Putin to give
back Crimea. “We remain true to our
course: Cleverly calibrated and
mutually agreed measures to raise the pressure toward a willingness to have
serious talks with Russia,” said Steinmeir sending Putin a loud message. With the Dutch reeling from grief over the loss of 193 citizens, Putin must accept
responsibility for delivering the BUK anti-aircraft weapons to Russian
separatists. If Putin doesn’t
back off aggression in Ukraine, Russia faces more global isolation.
|
