Grigory Yavlinsky’s web-site, 12.02.2024

In July 2021, Vladimir Putin published an article in which he made it absolutely clear to the whole world that Russia could start a military conflict with Ukraine at any moment. The article essentially denied Ukraine’s right to statehood and sovereignty and, correspondingly, made territorial claims. Such claims, expressed by the president of a nuclear power, substantiated Russia’s historical right to military action. “Moreover, this is not a war with a neighbour with whom the country has some differences, even if territorial, but instead a war with a powerful external aggressor, in other words, with the West where Ukraine is merely the battlefield for the confrontation,” I wrote in my response article “On the Historical Future of Russia and Ukraine” published on 19 July, 2021.

However, they did not hear Putin then, neither in Russia nor in the West. My warnings and calls to vote in the State Duma elections in the fall of 2021 for Yabloko, the only party on the list that openly and loudly advocated for peace and against the impending military clash with Ukraine, were not heard either. The idiotic and vile “smart vote” brought war supporters only to the State Duma. And then there came 24 February, 2022…

The special military operation has been going on for two years. The number of dead and wounded is unknown, but one can guess what the numbers are. Millions of refugees. The economy is destroyed. There is no positive perspective. This is the background against which Putin again turns to the West – this time through a disgraced American journalist specially “imported” from the United States for this purpose. As in that 2021 article, Putin is voicing historical claims. However, he says that he is ready to contact Washington to discuss ending the military operation. Such is Russian diplomacy today, there is no other. And if the West fails to see a chance for dialogue, then even more serious problems are in store for us. Yes, no one can guarantee that it will be possible to build this dialogue and that it will have some positive results. But we have to try.

And the most important: the mandatory first step to any dialogue must be a ceasefire. We need to stop killing people. As long as people continue to die, it is impossible to talk about anything.

Tucker Carlson’s interview with Russian President and other topics were discussed on the Zhivoi Gvozd YouTube channel.

The transcript in Russian is here: https://www.yabloko.ru/publikatsii/2024/02/12

Grigory Yavlinsky

is Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko, Vice President of Liberal International,

PhD in Economics,

Professor of the National Research University Higher School of Economics.