Debating The Fate Of The World, In Kyiv
But this doesn’t matter much to Russia’s president. Some sources from the European Parliament said they foresee Putin’s appetite for land expanding to the Baltics, Kazakhstan, and any other country the Kremlin would find strategically important—plus anywhere he could use his ploy of declaring himself protector of Russian-speaking minorities as a pretext to attack.
Aleksander Kwasniewski, president of Poland between 1995 and 2000, concluded the three-day conference by warning European and American politicians that Putin aims to turn Russia into a superpower that challenges the post-Cold War world order. In his view, Russia wants the entire Ukraine in its sphere of influence, not just the Eastern part. If he’s right, that doesn’t leave much hope that Pinchuk’s YES summit will be moving back to Yalta any time soon, unless the West gets serious about protecting global security.