US Permanent Representative to the OSCE Michael Carpenter believes that the West has made a big mistake by pursuing a policy of appeasing russia for a long time and has not heeded some warnings that have already been heard.
He said this in an interview with Voice of America.
“I believe that the main, collective mistake of the West in the 1990s and 2000s was that they launched a process of economic interdependence with russia, through trade, through mutual investment, through russia's admission to various international organizations, such as “The World Trade Organization” and much, much more. They hoped that in time russia would become a responsible stakeholder in the international community,” Carpenter said.
He stressed that the state, which is run by a small group of KGB officers, has a completely different view of the world.
“They are playing the game of elimination from the point of view of their attitude to the West. This state will never be able to become a Western liberal democracy. In fact, it has moved further and further away from Western liberal democracies since Yeltsin's time. The Kremlin will use vulnerabilities in Western systems of society,” he said.
Speaking about the further development of russia's war against Ukraine, Carpenter stressed that the most important thing now is to teach Ukrainian troops to operate modern military equipment so that they can receive additional supplies. He also noted that there was not much Soviet equipment left so that Ukraine could surpass russian systems and protect itself from this attack.
“And it will take time, our military analysts say. But we have been here for a long time. We want to help Ukraine defend itself,” Carpenter said.
He also commented on the Kremlin's statements that the West, and in particular the United States, should not provide Ukraine with protective weapons and equipment.
“Obviously, Kremlin leaders will say that the United States and other Western nations should not provide weapons to Ukraine. But then THEY should not invade a neighbouring state. So let's go back and see who started it. They don't need retreats, they can retreat to russia at any moment. They are the ones who invaded another state. I can't stand that we are always accused of possible escalation. They need to be pressured to leave the territory (Ukraine, ed.) immediately,” Carpenter emphasized.
In May, in his speech at the OSCE Permanent Council, Carpenter said that if the West does not help Ukraine to contain russia's offensive and defeat it, it will lead to more and more new Buchas. Russia will not calm down and will terrorize Ukrainians until it captures Ukraine.