‘Ukraine’s fight is our fight too - let’s give them what they need to defeat Putin’

Picture credit: Karollyne Hubert

The Accidental Diplomat, a column by Paul Knott

Ukraine War: ‘One of those rare moments in history when evil must be defeated’

In 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain dismissed the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia as a “quarrel in a far away country, between people of whom we know nothing” and thought Britain could avoid getting involved. The Second World War that followed proved him disastrously wrong. Modern day appeasers are similarly mistaken in thinking we can come to an arrangement with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin over Ukraine.

Whether we like it or not (and anyone who likes war clearly needs their head testing), Ukraine’s fight for freedom is our fight too. Not by choice but by necessity imposed on us by Russia.

Putin’s long record of aggression and atrocities shows he will never respect any nation’s sovereignty. Russia constantly threatens its neighbours. It first invaded and illegally annexed parts of Ukraine in 2014. It occupies areas of Georgia and Moldova by force and, in practice, controls Belarus. The Putin regime has also committed murder on the soil of several countries – including Britain, where it killed British citizens Alexander Litvinenko in London and Dawn Sturgess, an innocent bystander, in Salisbury by using radioactive and chemical weapons in public places.

If Russia’s current brutal assault on Ukraine is allowed to succeed, then its record shows attacks on other countries are likely to follow. More wars started by Moscow in Europe will have serious consequences for Britain.

The impact on the cost of living, particularly on food, petrol and energy prices is already substantial after a few months of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. It is painful to imagine how much worse a prolonged and wider war would make matters. Even after the decline caused by Brexit, Europe remains Britain’s biggest trading partner and, therefore, generator of jobs and wages. Given its current vulnerable economic and political state, Britain is not in a good position to cope with the consequences of a bigger conflict.

‘WE MUST GIVE UKRAINE THE WEAPONS TO WIN’: Paul Knott. Picture by Kevin Schmid

Greater numbers of refugees would be an inevitable result of further fighting too, with all the challenges the essential task of accommodating them creates. Nor should it be ignored how morally corrosive it is to continue watching neo-fascist Russian thugs murder innocent men, women and children without doing enough to stop them.

The Putin regime has already damaged us in other ways. For years, Britain has far too easily allowed, sometimes even encouraged, stolen Russian money to be stashed in our country, distorting our economic and legal systems. Our democracy and the public’s faith in it has been harmed by Moscow’s murky election interference and peddling of extremist lies designed to create division.

Troublingly, Russian political “donations” may also have corrupted the current party of government, the Conservatives. Certainly, the disgraced outgoing Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has a serious case to answer about his relationship with the former KGB officer turned oligarch, Alexander Lebedev (and here it is worth noting Putin’s memorable comment that “there is no such thing as a ‘former’ KGB agent”).

Johnson appointed Lebedev’s son, Yevgeny, to the House of Lords over the objections of the security services. Worse, when he was Foreign Secretary, Johnson shook off his security team and travelled alone to the Russian’s villa in Italy. This trip took place directly after Johnson had attended a NATO meeting in Brussels at which the Salisbury poisonings were discussed. At the very least, this incident was a major breach of national security rules. Given that little is yet known about what Johnson did there and with whom, it may turn out to be much worse than that.

The current carnage in Ukraine is partly a result of our previous failures to punish Russia for its aggressive acts and welcoming of dodgy Russian money. The West is massively more powerful militarily and economically than Russia. But Putin has been encouraged by our past feebleness and greed to believe that we lack the will to resist his bullying. Whilst he may have been surprised by the level of resistance so far to his latest invasion of Ukraine, he still thinks we will eventually weaken in the face of the costs his war is imposing on us and put pressure on our governments to reduce support for Ukraine or grant him concessions.

TARGET: Salisbury in England, where Russia is suspected of carrying out a lethal chemical weapons attack in 2018. Picture credit: Andy Newton

To do so would be a terrible mistake. As the past record shows, rewarding Russia for its unprovoked violence and war crimes will not produce peace and stability. It will merely encourage Moscow to pocket its gains, regroup and come back for more later, at even greater cost to us.

Tragically, this is one of those rare situations in world history where evil must be defeated. Putin has shown no interest in mutually beneficial compromise. The only choice available is between tackling him now or having to do so later when he has become more powerful and dangerous.

In a bleak sense, we are fortunate the Ukrainian people are willing to fight Russia with staggering bravery, without us needing to get directly involved on the ground yet. Rather than wilting, we must do whatever it takes to help the Ukrainians reverse Putin’s unprovoked attack on them. This means stepping up sanctions to isolate the Russian economy completely and financially supporting our own less well-off people through the consequences.

We must also stop hemming and hawing about what weapons we send to Ukraine. There is no sense in standing in someone’s corner in a fight and tying one of their hands behind their back. The nonsensical reluctance to supply arms with the range to reach Russian territory is one such example. In reality, any weapon could be fired into Russia, including a catapult if you stood close enough to the border. Ukraine should be empowered to defend itself against the cross-border Russian missiles targeting its schools, hospitals and shopping centres.

As was the case during Hitler’s rise, now is not the time for hesitation. The Ukrainians should be given everything we have that they can use. Unless we want to fight Putin and Russia later ourselves at even greater human and economic cost, we must do everything in our power to help Ukraine to see off these vicious Kremlin war criminals now.