Russia Policies and Zeit­en­wende: The Change We Need

The war in Ukraine is putting the future of Russia more and more in our hands. A decisive victory of Ukraine makes an end to the Putin regime more likely. The West needs to prepare for this moment because it may offer a short oppor­tu­nity to encourage the country to embark on a more demo­c­ratic and law-abinding path, writes Maria Domanska.

Putin has turned Russia into a dicta­tor­ship, but the country is by no means destined to be a dark impe­ri­al­istic power. The Free World needs to support Russia’s next attempt for demo­c­ratic change instead of snubbing it, writes Vladimir Milov.

During an Inspiring Round­table last week, we discussed the West’s future Russia policy on the basis of four key countries’ approach — Poland, France, Germany and the US. Some short takeaways:

French policy towards Russia was based on self-serving delusions that led to dangerous failures and exac­er­bated Putin’s paranoia. The West needs to overhaul its policies and build a strong security system in Europe and beyond.

Russia’s vicious war against Ukraine has prompted even long-term critics of Vladimir Putin’s regime to recon­sider their view of Russian society and politics. The war has upended not just relations between Russia and the West but is testing the inter­na­tional system as a whole. The urgent need for new thinking has prompted the Center of Liberal Modernity (LibMod) to set up its Expert Network Russia, which met in Vilnius under the headline “Rethinking Russia” for the first time on 31 October.

Poland’s complex rela­tion­ship with Russia is deeply inter­twined with Germany and Ukraine, Janusz Reiter writes.

Germany’s decades-long policy of political part­ner­ship with Russia is in tatters — instead of a friendly demo­c­ratic country it got an aggres­sive dicta­tor­ship. To avoid future failures, we need strength and resilience, writes Ulrich Speck.

It is time to think about a Russia after Putin. If defeated in Ukraine, condi­tions in the country will also change. Whether for the better or the worse is an open question. Without a departure from the imperial delusion, Russia will remain in the eternal vicious circle of war politics and author­i­tarian rule.

Under Orbán’s pressure, the EU-Commis­sion has removed the Russian Patriarch Kirill from the sanctions list – a fatal under­es­ti­ma­tion of the powerful role of the Russian-Orthodox Church in the war against Ukraine.

Chan­cellor Scholz supports Ukraine only so much that it can defend itself with diffi­culty, but cannot launch a coun­ter­at­tack. But if Putin is not defeated in Ukraine, there will be no...

Russia’s war of aggres­sion against Ukraine is a turning point for Europe and the whole world. What are its policy impli­ca­tions? Are the sanctions imposed so far suffi­cient to contain the...

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is reaching a perilous stage. The West needs to step up efforts to make Putin’s war unwinnable. Conces­sions will only prolong his regime and increase Moscow’s appetite...

Military expert Gustav C. Gressel on the war in Ukraine: The outcome will depend in part on whether the West supplies Ukraine with the weapons it needs. It is also...

By waging a war against Ukraine, Putin has badly miscal­cu­lated. The Russian leader has become victim of his own propa­gan­distic visions and failed to antic­i­pate the Western respo­nse, writes Vladislav Inozemtsev.