Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to the world on February 24, 2022, in a televised speech, in which he faulted the aggressive behavıor of the West, i.e., the western alliances of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) as the reason for his decision to invade Ukraine. Of course, he was also obligated to respond to the separatist Donetsk and Luhansk regions’ plea for his intervention to protect them from Ukrainian hegemonic designs.

Resorting to crude, Soviet-era propaganda rhetoric, Putin lashed out at NATO for going back on that organization’s assurances to the nascent Russian Federation’s leadership, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, that it would not expand “by one inch,” according to Putin, eastward. [Translator/Analyst Note: Accompanying the collapse of the Soviet Union was the dissolution of its military alliance, the Warsaw Pact. Over the course of time, those countries have become NATO member-states, which, of course, drew NATO all the more eastward. [Note: See below for a map of NATO countries] Ukraine’s bid to become a NATO member was ‘a bridge too far,’ in Putin’s view, encroaching on Russia’s very doorstep. Also, the future accession of Ukraine to the EU would entail a similar transgression on the part of the West. ]

The catch-phrase, “Empire of Lies,” Putin assured his listeners, was fitting, given the proclivity, not of the United States only, but of all western nations, to go back on their word, i.e., to lie. [Note: Almost assuredly, this is a comeback on the part of Putin to President Ronald Reagan’s coining the phrase “evil empire” in referring to the then-Soviet Union. This, together with the former President’s later challenge to CPSU General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in then-West Berlin to “tear down this wall,” has stuck in the craw of the once-young KGB agent stationed in East Germany, who now has seized the opportunity to ridicule the system which he fought against at the time and of which he has continued to be a staunch opponent up to today.]

Putin expressed the opinion that as a result of the Soviet Union’s paralysis of power and will, as was demonstrated in the late 1980s, the balance of power in the world was violated by the hegemony of the West. [Note: Putin states clearly that he considers the ‘West’ to be nothing more than an extension of the U.S. and its policies.] According to Putin, the military actions of the decadent and conceited West have produced catastrophe after catastrophe, as he drew on the examples of “the bloody military operation against Belgrade,” Iraq, Libya, and Syria, the latter three of which have produced a “mass migration exodus from North Africa and the Middle East to Europe.” Putin cited the “huge hotbed of international terrorism” that was created in Libya as a result of “the complete destruction of the state…so that the country was plunged into a humanitarian catastrophe.” The same could be said of Iraq, where an invasion was justified–once again–based on lies. None of these were condoned by the UN Security Council, Putin reminded his listeners.

Putin claimed that the West’s intent was to “destroy our traditional values and to entangle us in their pseudo-values that would devour us and our nation from the inside…[,]which directly lead to degradation and degeneracy.” However, harking back to the Soviet Union’s unpreparedness for World War II and the consequences of a policy of appeasement, Putin vowed this would not happen again, even as [the West] has declared Russia their enemy. In fact, he bragged about Russia’s nuclear and other advanced types of weaponry and warned of the terrible mistake it would be for an adversary to attack.

The upshot of Ukraine’s siding with the West for Putin was a “matter of life and death” and therefore a “red line,” which had been crossed. Refusing Ukraine in general to the West at all costs Putin coupled with the necessity to support the separatist “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk in the southeastern tip of Ukraine bordering Russia. A part of the equation, as well, was continuing to support and protect the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol. However, just as he had accepted the eventualities of the new states formed in the post-Soviet space, he had no plans to occupy Ukraine, only to “demilitari[ze] and denazif[y]” it, while “protecting Russia herself from those who took Ukraine hostage and are attempting to use it against our country and our people.”

In summation, Putin appealed to all parties involved to understand that his patience had reached its limit from years of being rebuffed at the negotiating table and that for the present and future well-being of Russia, no other option remained but military action. The bottom line was the security of Russia.

Commentary: Putin has been very patient in biding his time as to the most appropriate moment to make his move regarding Ukraine, specifically, while, more broadly, initiating what could very well be a series of such military incursions in the name of security. Putin was a true believer, perhaps not in Communism per se, but in whatever system would give the Soviet Union military, diplomatic, and political superiority, and rues the day when that system, which he had served faithfully, collapsed. It stands to reason that his predilection is to see Russia attain the greatness of the Soviet Union, which, though in the end proved to be a paper tiger, blustered and bluffed its way to becoming a nation to be feared. Putin is a revanchist and, despite his rhetoric to the contrary that he supports self-determination, will take all that the rest of the world will let him.

For a full translation of Putin’s speech, please see below.