How Russia’s invasion of Ukraine strengthened democracy around the world | Opinion
to free their countries of Russia’s influence in their information, energy and financial sectors.
Across Europe, the war has inspired a commitment to democracy, and it has forced through tough political decisions that seemed impossible a week ago. Perhaps in the United States, the war will also inspire a true reckoning across the political spectrum, beyond the Biden administration alone., in the lead up to the invastion of Ukraine, Kremlin-linked social media accounts falsely asserted that Western countries “need a war,” misrepresenting the motivations and interests of the U.S.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The West was at Putin’s table, passionately working for diplomatic resolution. Putin launched the invasion in the middle of the U.N. Security Council meeting on paths for de-escalation . Then, the U.S., with Europe, UK, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and other democratic partners, put in place the most unified and severe economic sanctions that could have been foreseen.
Contrary to worst expectations, even far-right French politicians denounced the invasion. And rather than leaving Ukraine to be overrun, individual European countries and the United States are not only providing Ukraine with weapons, but the European Union for the first time in its history is providing EUR450 million for military assistance.
Russia’s war on Ukraine has pushed Europeans to make foreign and domestic policy decisions not seen in a generation or more. Germany, which until last week had stood by 1970s principles of economic partnership with Russia and hope for political “change through trade,” halted the completed, but not yet operational, Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Russia and committed to beefing up defense spending to EUR100 billion, more than doubling spending from last year.
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