The latest crime of Putin’s terrorist regime resulted in at least 45 people killed and scores of others wounded in Dnipro, again begs the question: why hasn’t the Free World given Ukraine the weapons it needs to stop the loss of civilian lives? One of the dominant arguments we hear from Western capitals is that fully supporting Ukraine and enabling its victory could result in the collapse of Putin’s dictatorship, growing instability, and even the disintegration of the Russian Federation. Though we agree with the first thesis – a Ukrainian victory could lead to the collapse of the fascist regime in Russia – we believe it is wrong to fear its consequences. It is hard to imagine a more dangerous, unstable, and unpredictable Russia than the one under Putin’s rule!
Nobody can guarantee a peaceful transition to democracy after the collapse of a dictatorship. But we are confident that preserving the status quo will result in a less stable global order, with Russia increasingly resembling an even more belligerent version of North Korea. Ultimately, the collapse of Russia’s dictatorship (if it occurs) would be far more likely to be a positive event than a negative one.
We readily admit that Putin’s fall is not without risk; but this is a risk well worth taking. Are Western governments ready to consign millions who neighbor Russia to the perpetual fear of invasion? More immediately, how could they consign millions of Ukrainians to the tender mercies of Putin’s indiscriminate attacks for fear of some distant, ill-defined, and unlikely possibility? World leaders should be more concerned about today’s threats of Russian rockets, ballistic missiles, and military assaults than they are about the hypothetical scenarios of tomorrow. The West’s strategy of moving slowly and doling out weapons to Ukraine bit by bit is misguided because it encourages Putin’s murderous ambitions. It leads him to believe that the West is running out of resources and that he will win a protracted war. We cannot continue to self-deter and we cannot allow ourselves to be duped by a dictator.
We urge the leaders of Western countries gathering at Ramstein to stop procrastinating and end the policy of small injections of weapons. This should be replaced with a very simple approach: give the country fighting for its freedom and for the peaceful future of Europe whatever it needs to defend its people and bring this conflict to a true resolution as quickly as possible.
Russian Action Committee