President Vladimir Putin and Russian aggression are putting us all at risk writes Tony Abbott
WHEN it comes to destabilising neighbours, Russian President Vladimir Putin has form. But the last thing anyone needs is a powerful country throwing its weight around writes Tony Abbott.
Opinion
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News.
AFTER the Middle East, the biggest threat to the world’s peace and freedom is Russian aggression against its neighbours.
Twenty-five years ago, when they each left the Soviet orbit, both Ukraine and Poland were poor countries. But Poland looked to the west, joined the European Union, and is now four times richer than its southern neighbour. Understandably, Ukraine now wants to do the same but the Russian strongman, Vladimir Putin, is wrecking the country to try to stop it.
When it comes to destabilising neighbours, Putin has form. He briefly invaded Georgia in 2007 and sponsors a separatist badland on the edge of Moldova.
Because he blames them for surrendering chunks of the Russian motherland, Putin regards Czar Nicholas II and Mikhael Gorbachev as his country’s greatest failures. The Baltic States and even Poland fear they are his next targets — especially if Ukraine is bullied into submission.
With so many problems in the world, the last thing anyone needs is a powerful country with a war lord in charge throwing its weight around.
Shortly after protests brought down a pro-Russian Ukrainian president in March 2014, out-of-uniform Russian forces invaded the Crimea where rigged elections then voted to join Russia. Then, Russian-backed rebels seized government buildings in eastern Ukraine and declared independent republics.
In subsequent heavy fighting, published US intelligence says a Russian missile launcher entered Ukraine and shot down MH17 killing 298 people, including 38 Australians whose bodies had to be recovered from the war zone.
So far, 1.7 million people are internally displaced, almost 10,000 Ukrainians have been killed and more than 2000 Russian soldiers are also thought to have died.
Right now, in the country’s east, some 60,000 Ukrainian troops face about 45,000 rebels including about 10,000 Russian special forces.
There are at least 50,000 Russian soldiers mobilised on the other side of the border and, with his Syrian adventure seemingly winding down, Putin may be looking for another chance to flex his muscles.
A Russian cyberattack recently closed part of the Ukrainian power grid, he’s cut gas supplies, and there are up to 500 ceasefire violations every week in a bid to keep Ukraine an impoverished, post-Soviet client kleptocracy like Belarus.
Rather than give in, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has been striving to create democratic institutions with a normal market economy.
The armed forces are being reorganised under civilian control. The power industry and the banking sector have been reformed. Politicians, judges and other officials are now required to declare all their assets. An anti-corruption agency has been established.
For the first time there’s a vigorous free press. The president, one of the country’s richest men, is putting his assets into a blind trust.
On the other hand, officials are still paid less than $400 a month, regulation is stifling, and oligarchs still influence the parliament via “list” MPs from the political parties they manipulate.
The economy minister has resigned in protest at pressure to appoint cronies to run businesses and the parliament is deadlocked because the president’s preferred candidate for prime minister — a US-trained economist and businesswoman — is a threat to vested interests.
The danger is the wider world might lose interest in Ukraine just when its encouragement is needed most. The IMF has provided financial support and the EU civil capacity building. The US and the UK are helping to train the Ukrainian army.
But some European countries want to scrap sanctions against Russia and return to business-as-usual. There is also pressure on Ukraine to hold local elections under the Minsk agreement even though the ceasefire is only partial and elections in rebel territory could hardly be fair.
Fear of Putin means that no country has been prepared to sell Ukraine even defensive weapons. It’s hard to comprehend why a legitimate democratic government under threat should be denied weapons the West so readily supplied to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan.
In the aftermath of the MH17 atrocity, the Abbott government provided $5 million worth of uniforms to the Ukrainian army and began talks about replacing Russian-supplied uranium with Australian exports.
Most importantly, we opened an embassy in Kiev, not just as a base for Australians helping to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice, but as a sign of solidarity with a country seeking to be free. It was a modest assertion that we care but it’s been deeply appreciated by the Ukrainian government and people.
Tony Abbott is a member of the Ukrainian International Advisory Council. The Ukrainian government funded his trip to Kiev.
Carbon boy Bowen and his anti-Jimny jihad
The Suzuki Jimny has become a cult hit among Aussie drivers - but the Albanese government, through the agency of Misery Minister Chris Bowen, is seeking to penalise Suzuki for its sinful production of light, low-impact cars, writes Tim Blair.
England’s appalling display mars absolute Test classic
England’s display in the Test classic against India was appalling, and unsportsmanlike, writes Peter Jenkins. It just makes the upcoming Ashes more appealing.