Europe must be bolder to counter Russian aggression

Europe is taking baby steps towards walking away from America and ending the Russian threat against its democracies. But the time has come to take giant leaps for mankind.

- SAM KILEY

The first move is immediate Nato membership for Ukraine, for Georgia and for Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The idea would probably be vetoed immediately by the US, along with Hungary and Slovenia, which are run by pro-Putin autocrats.

But a non-Nato, Nato-style alliance of the West would be a powerful entity that would give Putin pause for thought if it acted together and with the sort of confidence the Kremlin has shown on the world stage.

From Vladimir Putin down, Russians believe in their deepest core that “the West” is their enemy. His followers, and his useful-idiot supporters in the West, further believe that Nato has advanced into the east of Europe, once dominated by the Soviet Union, by underhand means – on its march towards Moscow.

That is rubbish of course. Former Eastern bloc nations emerged from Soviet vassalage as democratic countries and freely joined a military alliance to prevent Russia invading them again. But Russians don’t believe that. So it doesn’t matter if Nato proves their point by bringing the frontline states with the Russian Federation under its umbrella.

Doing so will also tip the balance away from an entirely Russian perspective on how to end the war towards what Ukraine and its European allies want.