“Engaging a belligerent Russia through deterrence,” commentary by Paul Grod, national president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and vice-president of the Ukrainian World Congress, published October 26 in The Hill Times, Canada’s politics and government newsweekly (https://www.hilltimes.com/…/engaging-belligerent-russ…/85160):
…Every day, Russian and proxy forces in the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine shell Ukrainian military positions and civilian areas in towns along the front. Every day, Ukrainian soldiers fight and die to defend their country. …
In Crimea, any opposition to Russia’s occupation is brutally repressed. The indigenous Crimean Tatar people, ethnic Ukrainians, religious minorities, and anyone courageous enough to speak out against the occupation are systematically targeted and imprisoned by the Russian occupation authorities. …
In Syria, Russia has conducted a savage bombing campaign against civilians in the besieged city of Aleppo in support of Putin’s monstrous comrade, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, murdering women and children, destroying hospitals, and obliterating the city’s infrastructure. …
At the U.N., Russia has abused its veto at the Security Council to prevent any progress towards peace in Ukraine or Syria. …
All of these Russian actions, and many more, point to an obvious fact: Putin’s Russia is not interested in being part of a peaceful global community. …
Putin has shown time and again that any agreements or accords reached with Russia are not worth the paper on which they are written. …
The reality is that we do not have a partner in Putin’s Russia. We have a foe willing to use any means to undermine the existing international rules-based order. In order to deal with Putin’s Russia effectively, Western leaders must accept this reality and engage a belligerent Russia with deterrence – the only instrument that its leadership today understands.