Putin's Goal for Ukraine

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Putin's Goal for Ukraine 09/01/14 Nikolas K. Gvosdev Security, Ukraine, Russia "We have a tendency to be puzzled by Russian actions and can attribute it to an inscrutable Kremlin mindset, when, in actuality, Moscow is aligning its strategic compass to a different set of goals." The initial optimism that the first face-to-face meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine last week in Minsk represented the long-awaited start to the de-escalation of Europe’s worst security crisis in a generation was dashed when, contrary to expectations, the fighting in East Ukraine accelerated—and Moscow began to more openly assist the separatist forces. This begs the question: when a very promising off-ramp to defusing tensions presented itself, why would Vladimir Putin seemingly reject it? Pundits have come up with all sorts of explanations—from irrationality to megalomania to outright duplicity—and the overall impression many are left with is that Putin is hell-bent on war. Yet one can detect a very clear purpose and design behind Russian actions—particularly in simultaneously starting dialogue and encouraging an increase in the tempo of military operations in southeastern Ukraine, following a template that has already been used vis-à-vis Georgia six years ago. We have a tendency to be puzzled by Russian actions and can attribute it to an inscrutable Kremlin mindset, when, in actuality, Moscow is aligning its strategic compass to a different set of goals. Going forward, there are three objectives to be obtained—first, to weaken the bargaining position of the Ukrainian government and to move it towards acceptance of Russian proposals; the second, to destroy or degrade its military and economic capabilities, and the third, and perhaps most important, is to discredit Western promises of aid and support and, if possible, induce a feeling of betrayal and abandonment among Ukraine’s leaders. Read full articlehttp://nationalinterest.org/feature/putins-goal-ukraine-11170