Putin is Committing a Crime Against Humanity, Western Appeasement Must End, and Russian Siloviki Must Overthrow Him, Skobov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Feb. 24 – Aleksandr Skobov, one of the most thoughtful and penetrating critics of Putin’s fascism, says that by invading Ukraine, the Kremlin leader is committing a crime against humanity, that Western appeasement of his regime must end, and that the Russian siloviki who have supported him up to now must turn on him and overthrow his regime.

            It is critically important to understand that Putin today like Hitler in the 1930s is not invading one country but seeking “the destruction of the international order based on the force of law” and its replacement by an international system based on force alone, Skobov says  (graniru.org/War/m.284449.html).

            Because that is the case, the Russian analyst and commentator says, those who have been warning since 2014 that “Putin is the new Hitler” have turned out to be correct. “And the challenges which he is throwing up against human civilization are exactly those which Hitler threw” not quite a century ago.

            Tragically just as in the 1930s, “part of the responsibility for the unleashing of war lies with those politicians who for too long tried to “’appease the aggressor.’ If the leaders of the West want to defend the world which they build after 1945, a world based on the supremacy of law, they must decisively turn away from that policy.”

            These leaders “must end attempts to continue senseless dialogue” with “the band of military criminals and terrorists in the Kremlin;” and the must “immediately begin the formation of ‘an Anti-Putin coalition’ and provide Ukraine with military assistance of all possible kinds,” Skobov continues.  

            “The civilized world must recognize that its goal today must be the inflicting of a military defeat on the Putin regime and its liquidation.”  Unfortunately, “Russian ‘civil society’ today is not in a position to do that.” The only ones inside Russia who can are the siloviki who have up to now been supporting Putin.

            They must turn their arms against “Putin’s fascist clique,” Skobov argues. Only then will they be able to avoid being lumped together with him as war criminals. Until that happens one can only wish that the Ukrainian government and people will continue to resist and that finally the West will help them as it should have already long ago.