Sergiy Fedunyak
Fulbright-Kennan Scholar;
Professor, International Relations, Chernivtsi National University, Chernivtsi, Ukraine.
Опубліковано: 2022-03-01 in International
The war has been going on for six days now. The first and second capital cities Kharkiv and Kyiv, large cities and small towns of Ukraine are under attack. It seems that the enemy is throwing the last reserves into battle to break the resistance of the Ukrainians. Blitzkrieg did not succeed: there were no enthusiastic crowds congratulating the “liberators” with flowers, only anger and desire for resistance. As the last argument, Putin uses nuclear blackmail, which has not been the case since the 1962 “Caribbean Crisis”.
Unable to seize the settlements, the aggressor resorted to air and missile strikes on civilians, violating all possible norms and principles of international law and committing crimes against humanity. It should be mentioned that Russia’s actions fall under the definition of aggression in UN documents: in particular, the General Assembly resolution states that aggression is the use of force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another state. Even in Russian law, there is Article 353 of the Criminal Code, which provides for a sentence of ten to twenty years for planning, preparing or launching an aggressive war. It should be noted that the International Criminal Court has already begun collecting evidence regarding Russian crimes in Ukraine.
Military aggression has launched an ongoing process of accelerating the overthrow of the Putin regime, which has already begun. “Hellish” Western sanctions have already cost the Russian economy more than a hundred billion dollars. In just one day, the rouble collapsed by more than 40%. The European Union has completely closed the skies to Russian aviation; a number of system-forming banks are under severe sanctions; Western companies, in particular British Petroleum, are moving away from joint energy and raw material projects with Russia. Russians are excluded from international sports organizations and deprived of the right to hold competitions and tournaments: thus, the Russian national football team will not participate in the 2022 World Cup, and Russian clubs – in European cups. The whole world expresses sympathy and respect for the Ukrainian people and condemns aggression. Thus, the Russian Federation has in fact become a world pariah.
The consequence of this situation will be the destabilization of the internal situation in Russian Federation. The economic crisis caused by the war and external sanctions will lead to a sharp decline in living standards of ordinary Russians. Dissatisfaction is growing among the elite, which has lost a lot due to the actual cut-off from world markets, as well as the confiscation of real estate and capital in the West. Every day of the war leads to the spread of anti-war sentiments among the population, as more and more truthful information reaches the citizens of the Russian Federation and the effect of military losses begins to work. The aggression against the people they considered fraternal became for the Russians a great spiritual catastrophe, which they have not yet fully realized. All this will lead to the final destruction of the aggressive Russian regime.
This will be facilitated by the heroic defense of Kyiv, which, similar to the defeat of Hitler’s fascist troops near Stalingrad, turns into a total military catastrophe for Putin and is the beginning of his end. The history of Russia proves that military defeat ends badly for Russian tsars, it is worth mentioning the consequences of the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905, which, together with the capitulation in the First World War, eventually led to the execution of Nicholas IІ and his family. The Russians do not forgive their ruler his defeat.