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As the war continues in Ukraine’s Donbass region, Russia expert Olga Lautman warns of the country’s plan to expand its aggression across Europe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sounded alarm bells last week about his future military intentions when invoked the legacy of monarch Peter the Great. The famous Russian leader, who reigned from 1682 to 1725, notably led a series of successful wars that helped establish the country as a major international force.
“Peter the Great waged the great northern war for 21 years,” Putin said during a speech. “It would seem that he was at war with Sweden, he was taking something away from them. He didn’t take anything from them, he gave them back [lo que era de Rusia].
Apparently, it’s up to us to give back [lo que es de Rusia] and strengthen [el país]. And if we proceed from the fact that these basic values form the basis of our existence, we will certainly manage to solve the tasks that face us.
In light of this comparison, ‘Express UK’ spoke to Lautman, who is also the host of the ‘Kremlin File’ podcast, about what the future might hold militarily for Russia. Noting that the country is already involved in a conflict with a territory of the former Soviet Union, Lautman warned in an interview that others could be at risk.
“The West must provide Ukraine with all the military support it can, because if Russia is successful in Ukraine, it will extend its war“, said. “The war will leave Ukraine for other parts of Europe.”
Putin has also been increasingly antagonistic to other European nations beyond what used to be Soviet territories, including some that have made proposals to join NATO. “So, of course, Poland, we have heard former Russian Prime Minister Medvedev’s comments about Poland,” Lautman added. “We have also seen the threats against Finland and Sweden because they wanted to join NATO, and there are also the Baltic countries.”
Transnistria, the breakaway region of Modalvia
Lautman specifically highlighted Russia’s military buildup in Transnistria, an unrecognized breakaway region from Moldova, another former Soviet territory. The head of the Donetsk separatists, Denis Pushilin, called for the launching of “the next stage of the special military operation in Ukraine” from this region, suggesting, in kyiv’s opinion, that there is a plan to open a new front against Ukraine to the west of Odessa.
After the war in 1992 between the Moldovan troops and the separatist forces of Transnistria, a peace agreement was signed for the deployment of Russian ‘peace troops’. Since then, units of the Russian 14th Army Corps have been stationed there.
Transnistria has an area of 4,163 square kilometres, somewhat smaller than that of the Balearic Islands, and a population of just over 300,000 inhabitants. They are of Orthodox religion, they prefer to use Russian instead of Moldovan as their main language and their flag is the same as the Soviet one, red with a hammer and sickle, with the only difference that it also has a green central stripe.
www.abc.es
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism