Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Analyzes Putin's Invasion Intentions
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- As the Russian military continues its assault on Ukraine, the former U.S. ambassador to that country spoke with KPIX to talk about his take on the escalating situation.
"What the Russians are doing now, this is the largest or potentially the largest land war in Europe since World War II," said Steven Pifer, who is William J. Perry Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He was also the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine from 1998 to 2000. He says the conflict goes back to the fall of the Soviet Union when Ukraine was recognized as a separate country from Russia.
"Ukraine is succeeding. It has democratic traditions now. If it gets the economy right, Russians are going to start asking 'Why can't we have the same political voice that people in Ukraine have?'" Pifer explained.
He said that's why Putin could be looking to replace the young Democratic government in Ukraine so the country's politics more closely align with the current Russian government, which operates like a dictatorship.
"It's unprovoked. It's Russian simply going after a small neighbor whose policies it disagrees with. I think what we have to ask ourselves is, 'Is that the kind of world we want to live in?'" Pifer said.
Right now, the U.S. is not sending troops to Ukraine but instead is beefing up American military forces in neighboring countries that are part of NATO, which is the mutual defense agreement formed after World War II between 28 European countries plus the U.S. and Canada.
"They are going to places like the Baltic states and Poland, in part, to assure those countries because they're a lot more nervous looking at Russia's use of military force against Ukraine but also to send a signal to Moscow that NATO will defend NATO territories," Pifer says.
