The Editorial. Russian Pretenses

It repeats itself instead of advancing peace. In recent days, Vladimir Putin has once again demanded that Ukraine adopt a "neutral status" and recognize the results of the referendums held in the occupied regions. For Moscow, this is a prerequisite for any ceasefire. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is ready to work on this issue as early as March 2022, the blackmail of neutrality brandished by the Russian head of state cannot constitute a solid basis for long-term stability in the region.

Enshrined in international law, neutrality means that a country does not take sides with any belligerent and remains aloof from armed conflict. But the contours of this principle are sufficiently vague and fragile to constitute no bulwark against violations of territorial sovereignty. Neutral since 1839, Belgium was invaded by Germany in 1914. Finland and Sweden decided to end their historical neutrality by joining NATO… following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

It is all the more difficult to give credit to Vladimir Putin since he demanded Ukraine's neutrality, asserting in the process that Russians and Ukrainians formed one and the same people and that, "in this sense, the whole of Ukraine belongs to us." For the master of the Kremlin, who also does not rule out seizing the Ukrainian city of Sumy, there is no neutrality that holds in the former Soviet republics once they have chosen to emancipate themselves from the Eastern bloc.

Gripped by the threat of recession and the lack of significant progress on the front lines, Vladimir Putin took advantage of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum to once again blame the West for the war in Ukraine while threatening anyone who "steps on the foot of a Russian soldier." This rhetoric is anything but neutral coming from a former KGB officer, especially when it continues.