February 11, 2015
Countering Putin’s Grand Strategy
The heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine this week isn’t the only reason to be skeptical about the prospects for the peace summit that began Wednesday in Minsk, Belarus. Even if the meeting among Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Puti n, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande produces a cease-fire agreement that holds up—unlike the one signed last fall—the conflict’s underlying reality will remain unchanged: The Russian-backed separatist revolt in eastern Ukraine is part of Moscow’s larger grand strategy.
President Putin, who is consumed by historical humiliations, knows that Russia was invaded not only by Napoleon and Hitler, but before that also by the Swedes, Poles and Lithuanians. And so the Russian president seeks a post-Warsaw Pact buffer zone in Central and Eastern Europe. The Kremlin play book: imperialism by way of forcing energy dependence, intelligence operations, criminal rackets, buying infrastructure and media through third parties, the bribing of local politicians and playing off the insecurities of ethnic minorities.
Read the entire op-ed at The Wall Street Journal.
More from CNAS
-
Previewing the Putin-Trump Meeting
Video
Andrea Kendall-Taylor, senior fellow and program director at the Center for a New American Security, joins CNN to discuss the Ukrainian peace process and the Alaska meeting.Wa...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor
-
The Daily Report: Pres. Trump Gears Up for High-Stakes Putin Summit in Alaska
Video
Andrea Kendall-Taylor, senior fellow and program director at the Center for a New American Security, joins CBS to discuss what Putin is trying to achieve with this summit and ...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor
-
Trump, Zelenskyy, Putin Meeting May Not Happen Anytime Soon: Townsend
Video
Jim Townsend, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, on the potential outcomes of the upcoming Trump-Putin summit in Alaska and its possible impact o...
By Jim Townsend
-
Commentary
Indo-Pacific Security / Transatlantic Security
Sharper: The Axis of UpheavalDespite some claims to the contrary, the axis of upheaval remains active: China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea continue to deepen their ties. Russia and China are flexing thei...
By Ryan Claffey, Charles Horn & Anna Pederson
