Russia’s War Against Ukraine Has Returned the Moral High Ground to Europe

The past year has removed ethical ambiguity from previously hard political decisions

21 February 2023

Vitaly Portnikov

Future of Ukraine Fellow

A year after the Russian attack on Ukraine, it seems that many of us have forgotten what life was like before the war, including political life.

We have managed to forget that the very sanctions ideology that has prevailed since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014 was based on the fact that sanctions should be introduced in such a way that they do not in any way harm the economy of Western countries or the interests of ”ordinary Russians”, as this would only strengthen Vladimir Putin’s position.

We have managed to forget that most of the European political establishment has continued to make a career out of “anti-Americanism” in order to convince Europeans that America’s excessive political presence on the continent only harms Europe and that Europeans themselves can make efforts that lead to the resolution of regional conflicts. The absence of the United States in the Normandy format is a good illustration of this uncanny approach.

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Vitaly Portnikov

Future of Ukraine Fellow

Vitaly is a Visegrad Insight Fellow as of 2022. He is also an author and renowned journalist working in democratic media in Central and Eastern Europe for more than three decades. He is the author of hundreds of analytical articles in Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Russian, Israeli, Baltic media. He hosts television programs and his own analytical channels on YouTube. He is currently broadcasting at the office of the Espreso TV channel in Lviv and continues to cooperate with the Ukrainian and Russian services of Radio Liberty. On the Russian service of Radio Liberty, he continues the project about the post-Soviet space “Roads to Freedom”, which was aired first from Moscow, then from Kyiv, and is now being produced in Lviv as a joint project of Radio Liberty, the Current Time TV channel and the Espreso TV channel.

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