Former Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Victor Osipov believes that Russia’s pretension to become a pole of the so-called “multipolar world” is “delusional”, while the Kremlin’s actions show that Russia cannot be a source of global security.
According to him, Russia’s nuclear power has become an instrument in the propaganda war. “I wonder if a country that threatens the world with nuclear war can seriously claim to be one of the pillars of global security”, Victor Osipov said during an IPN debate, which discussed the motives and pretexts of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“While Russia occupies an extremely large territory, and has a significant market and economy, it does not have enough potential to stand alongside world powerhouses, such as the United States and China, or the European Union conglomerate”, he said, adding:
“The reality on the battlefield in Ukraine, too, is changing the world’s perception of how mighty the conventional Russian armed forces really are – I’m not talking about the strategic forces, we better not get to see them in action, God forbid – but the conventional ones have failed all the objectives since the war started. Poor Russian soldiers are dying because of all this revanchist nonsense coming from the Kremlin leadership. I don’t think we can seriously talk about (Russia’s) pretension to become a source of security or one of the major global players in the security system. Instead, what we see is some revanchist fantasies of Russia to re-establish areas of influence around itself”.
According to the former deputy prime minister, the ongoing war is part of a series of attempts by Russia “to destabilize the security and welfare of the civilized world in order to wrest a certain role from it at the table of nations”.
As a former ambassador of Moldova to the OSCE (2017-2019), Victor Osipov says that the West has always understood Russia’s importance in the common system of European and world security, mentioning, among other things, the warming of relations with Russia after the break-up of the USSR and repeated invitations made to Russia for greater cooperation in this area. “(The Western world) has never denied Russia this importance. On the contrary, it would have been happy if Russia understood this role, too, as everyone understands it, to respect the principles of international law and to contribute to international security. Sadly, it was not meant to be”, remarked Victor Osipov.
Since the annexation of Crimea and the start of the conflict in Donbas, Osipov says that Russia “has excluded itself from the European security system, but has been invited for eight years to return, to abandon this policy of aggression and hybrid warfare with active armed elements”.
Victor Osipov stressed that international organizations in charge of international security, including the OSCE and the UN/Security Council, need to reinvent themselves in the new circumstances. As for Moldova, we must understand that “we are part of the menu, as we hear from the rhetoric of several Russian politicians”. “If they manage to make a junction with Transnistria, the Russians will not look at our (neutral) status. I don’t believe that those who commit such atrocities in Ukraine are capable of respecting it and being sensitive to our arguments. Therefore, I believe that our policy of neutrality must not remain a policy of naivety”, concluded Victor Osipov, former Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration.
The debate was the 246th installment of the “Political Culture” Series, run by IPN with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
