Russia’s unprovoked and premeditated invasion of all Ukraine, on the order of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, is a blow to universal freedoms. The Ukrainian people have fought and suffered in their remarkable defense of identity, independence, and sovereignty. The naked aggression Russia has wrought on Ukraine is without parallel in modern Europe. The US-Europe Alliance stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, its tolerant, democratic government freely elected by its citizens.

Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is a direct challenge to the Euro-Atlantic security. Based on liberal democratic values, this community is based on a shared respect for rule of law and free markets, and the pacific resolution of disputes, these principles and a history of cooperation categorically reject the Kremlin’s chauvinistic lies. Putin’s resort to use of force over a calculatingly fabricated pretext for invasion and murder only disgusts.

In the face of this threat, the transatlantic community, underpinned by the NATO Alliance, remains the bedrock of security and peace for North America and democratic Europe. With this naked act of violence, Vladimir Putin again labors to weaken the West’s alliances, pursuing divisionary tactics designed to undermine our joint response.
Russia under Putin presents a common threat that is best met by common action, solidarity, and mutual support. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S. and its democratic allies’ efforts to work with Russia as a partner have failed to convince its elite leadership that the genuine adoption of democratic norms is crucial if Russia is to be recognized as a responsible, affirmatively contributory member of the global community.
Presently, Putin’s aggressive and authoritarian rule harms Russians and those in its near abroad. Under Putin, the Kremlin has subjugated Belarus, propped up dictators in Central Asia, in armed conflict killed thousands of Ukrainians, and willingly spread the diseases of corruption and disinformation far beyond its borders. At home, Russians have suffered mightily under extreme poverty, oppression, and the deathly challenge of COVID-19. Let us acknowledge the Russian people’s hardships so that they know they are heard and not alone.

Until Russian’s leaders demonstrably commit to those fundamental democratic principles that undergird the Euro-Atlantic community of which a free Russia may someday be a member, its elites’ worldview will continue to render Russia an autocratic and xenophobic menace. The Euro-Atlantic community need answer with the acknowledgement that until Russia’s leaders appreciate that winning alliances depend on partners’ actual respect for shared values, the Russian Federation will not be recognized or respected as a leader. Rather, Vladimir Putin’s Russia will be seen by all for what it is – a revanchist, violent, and immoral regime for which no quarter should be given.