Editorial To Vima: Crafty neutrality is not an option

As the days go by, the ulterior motives and broader objectives of Moscow in the fierce war it has unleashed against Ukraine – a neighbouring country whose people are related to the Russians – last week are being exposed.

The news conference given via internet last Thursday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quite revealing.

Though apologetic and in an exceedingly tough spot, Russia’s top diplomat could not simply offer up Moscow’s specious arguments regarding the putative de-Nazification of Ukraine and the protection of the Russian-speaking population, so he expanded upon Russia’s broader security concerns.

He characterised the Ukrainian state as anti-Russian and made it perfectly clear that the Russian armed forces will continue their operations until they annihilate the Ukrainian Army.

Lavrov also made clear Moscow’s ambition of installing a Russia-friendly government in Kyiv, which would not be picked by his country, but rather by the defeated and externally manipulated Ukrainian people.

When asked about civilian deaths, he maintained that Russian forces are under strict orders to strike only military targets, but at the same time he stressed the “collateral damage” in the wars of Western countries in Iraq, Libya, and elsewhere.

In any event, the message toward the international community was that Russia will not tolerate an eastern expansion of NATO or the deployment of nuclear weapons near its borders, and that it will not be told how to defend its security.

Lavrov also expressed the diachronic dogma of strategic depth that has been the hallmark of Russia since the czarist era, and the lament over the downgrading of the country’s leadership since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Essentially, therein lies the great secret underlying the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian leadership has not reconciled itself with world-historical events and never accepted the outcome of the post-Soviet period. It seeks to regain power and influence through the force of arms.

Lavrov made no secret of this overarching goal and target. He spoke of the need – after the completion of the Russian military campaign – for a new, equitable negotiation with the West regarding Russia’s security and role in the world.

Essentially, three decades after the fact, he seeks to reverse the results of the fall of the Soviet Union and to regain militarily what was lost in the uprising of the Russian people and of the other peoples once oppressed by the Soviet-inspired Warsaw Pact.

The neo-oligarchic, post-communist leadership of Russia is attempting through the campaign in Ukraine, with armed warfare, to erase history and reverse the results of the historic change of 1991.

Confronted with such goals and pursuits, and with the use of weaponry and nuclear arms on the table, there is no room for compromise or reservations, especially given the fact that the quest to regain past Soviet grandeur is accompanied by a bloodbath, the destruction of European cities, and waves of refugees.

Under such conditions, and at a time that the foundations of the contemporary world are rumbling, no one can afford to remain a passive observer or adopt a stance of crafty neutrality.

That is why Europe reacted so dynamically and is heading toward a rebirth.

Greece has many reasons to take a direct and clear stand against historical revisionism, and that is precisely what it is doing these days.

All the rest – short-sightedness, moral relativism, and purported neutrality – does not befit or concern us.