Vladimir Putin Russia Ukraine war

The great-granddaughter of Stalin's successor discusses Ukrainian identity and the lingering wounds of the Cold War.

At the same time, all Russian leaders, essentially all Soviet leaders, had very tense relationships with Ukrainians’ desire to be more independent from Mother Russia, from the Kremlin, from Moscow. That certainly goes into Putin’s calculations, that you used to be smaller, and now you are basically what Poland used to be during the Soviet Union. It was the last line of Western defense, so now Ukraine is the last line of defense. Russians always thought of it as a bit of an appendage, and looked down on the “Little Russia,” so to speak. In fact, Khrushchev was the beginner of it in a sense, because he promoted Brezhnev, who was coming out of Ukraine. In this sense, the Soviet Union had multiethnic representation. One of the Russian tsars had a giant monument to Saint Vladimir, the baptizer of Kievan Rus, because it was supposed to represent that proto-state of Russian and Ukrainian. It’s a very close connection. Ukraine used to be called Malorossiya, which is a “Little Russia.” It was sort of an appendage of Russia. In the sixteen-hundreds, the Cossacks, the traditional warrior polity, which was at the center of what Ukraine is today, attached themselves to the Russians. But they were too independent, too unruly, and Catherine the Great took their independence away. Putin has obviously expressed anger at the way that Soviets allowed a certain degree of autonomy for Ukraine and for other Soviet states. And the word “respect” in the Russian language is in relation to others, so if you respect me, it means a lot. He spent a lot of years in Ukraine and was in charge of Ukraine’s Communist Party for many years. It was in this sense a dream of Lenin and Marx. Lenin, particularly, wrote in one of his works that every maid should learn how to rule the state. But before him, there was a Communist of Polish origin who was in charge of Ukraine. Because, as you remember, in the nineteen-nineties, Russia was basically next to the toilet in its own definition of itself, and was the loser in the Cold War. It felt like the West or the United States particularly could do or say anything to Russia or about Russia. Can you talk about the way in which Russian nationalism has incorporated people from these different areas, and how you understand that?

Instead, Ukrainians have given Russians a tutorial on fighting and dying for freedom and self-determination. Putin appears locked into his own germ-free ...

All that said, what makes the pleasant surprises in this war so surprising is that they were surprises to the people who were responsible for them. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Human beings are hard-wired to want to connect, and the hard-wiring of today’s world is making it easier and cheaper for them to do so every day. It is about the ability for countries, companies and now, increasingly, individuals to connect and act globally. It creates a community of kindness that alone cannot defeat Putin’s tanks, but it can help buttress those determined to resist them by reminding them that they are not alone — Putin is. I am always amazed by the courage that seemingly average people manifest in war — in this case, not only by Ukrainians, but also by Russians who refuse to buy Putin’s lies, knowing that he is turning them into a pariah nation. There is nothing like personally communicating with people in Ukraine who are hiding in their basement, while you are explaining why you are happy to rent that basement but never use it. I never had any illusions that once Putin launched this war, he’d stop short of doing anything to make sure that he could claim to be the “winner.” Nevertheless, it is stunning to watch how quickly he has tied himself into knots. Guests from the U.S., Britain and Canada are the biggest bookers. Now that we’ve passed the opening phase of this war, the surprises just keep on coming. With a few clicks they’re sending money to support Ukrainians and with a few more keystrokes telling everyone from McDonald’s to Goldman Sachs that they must withdraw from Russia until Russian soldiers withdraw from Ukraine. Here’s another surprise few saw coming — especially China and Russia. China relied on its own vaccines to fight Covid-19, along with a policy of zero tolerance and immediate quarantine to prevent spread of the coronavirus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime is showing growing desperation as its war against Ukraine falls further into disarray.

Time is of the essence. None of this is the action of a leader confident in victory. The West must prove itself equally capable: by supplying Ukraine and staring down Putin’s threats. There are no limits, in terms of weapons systems, targets, tactics, or human suffering, which he will not cross in Ukraine. He may indeed resort to escalatory attacks, or the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), if he sees no other choice. The key to Putin’s defeat is Ukraine’s survival. The United States and the West must manage this situation carefully.