The nuclear threat has just been brandished, brutally, by Vladimir Putin. A show of force intended to strike the minds of the Russians as much as to frighten and intimidate his rivals.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
However, what we have been witnessing over the past few days shows that almost no one in Western democracies has the intention of being intimidated.
The Russian president puts a knife to our throats?
We take note of this and… we make him understand that this blackmail will not make us weaken in our defense of Ukraine.
“The only way to get through [cette crise]is to remain firm and united, and to demonstrate to Vladimir Putin that he made a horrible mistake, that he made a bad calculation and that he is going to have to back down before the unity and firmness of the countries in the world,” summed up Justin Trudeau on Monday.
He had just announced that Canada was going to ship anti-tank weapons and ammunition to Ukraine.
The day before, his ministers Mélanie Joly and Anita Anand had promised Ukraine $25 million worth of non-lethal military equipment.
Verdict: Vladimir Putin’s threats had the opposite effect of what he wanted.
The most striking example is that of the European Union, which released on Sunday, in the wake of the Russian president’s remarks, the equivalent of around 650 million dollars to arm Ukraine.
Never seen.
“For the first time, the European Union will finance the purchase and delivery of armaments and other equipment to a country victim of a war. This is a historic turning point,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
There has also been a major turning point in Germany. The country has not generally delivered lethal weapons to conflict zones since World War II, but has announced that it is breaking with this doctrine to help Ukraine.
In fact, it is probably because of the steadfastness displayed by Western democracies – coupled with the astonishing resistance and bravery of the Ukrainians – that Vladimir Putin had to resolve to raise the nuclear bogeyman so quickly.
No, the United States, Germany, France, Canada and other allies of Ukraine will not, until further notice, fight in Ukraine.
This would be seen by Russia as a formal declaration of war.
And only God knows how far a new world war could take us…
But the response of Western democracies is not weak for all that.
Even she probably took the Russian regime by surprise.
Everything suggests that Vladimir Putin thought he could humiliate the West (once again) by quickly overthrowing the Ukrainian government and completing the conquest begun in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea.
He was counting, it is certain, on the apathy of our democracies. They have multiplied accommodations with regard to tyrants in recent years.
Is Russia waking up a sleeping giant? At least momentarily, yes.
And it’s not just arms deliveries that worry and irritate Moscow.
Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada have put in place “the toughest sanctions ever imposed on a major economy”, said Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Among the harshest measures: Western countries have agreed to exclude the main Russian banks from the Swift interbank system. They also, for several, prohibited transactions with the Russian central bank.
For the Russian regime, financing the war could end up becoming more difficult.
Let’s be clear: this does not mean that Vladimir Putin will be defeated, even if we fervently hope so.
But it is reassuring to see that Canada and other Western democracies have understood that it was crucial to prove to Vladimir Putin that his stupid and atrocious war would not go unpunished.
Crucial to show him that we are going to support Ukraine – and therefore democracy – with force.
Crucial, finally, to make him understand that attacking Ukraine so odiously will cost him dearly.
Very expensive.