Sveriges agerande i Ukraina-frågan är en säkerhetspolitisk katastrof

Neoconservatives, politicians and frustrated Cold Warriors filling armchairs in the outdated “strategic” think tanks that litter Washington will continue to howl at the moon. But U.S. policy should be run by the sober. The president would be well advised to investigate whether the European Union, Russia and the United States can join together to preserve Ukraine’s territorial unity; to support new and free elections; and to agree to allow Ukraine to be part of both the European Union and Russian customs union, while reaffirming the pledge that NATO will not extend itself into Ukraine. It is time to reduce tensions and create possibility, not flex rhetorical muscles and fan the flames of folly

What needs to be done to get Ukraine back into focus?

First, stop talking about “the Ukrainian people” as if it were a monolithic concept. Two closely related, but distinct, cultural heritages comprise Ukrainian identity—Ukrainian and Russian. Attempts to isolate, ignore or minimize the importance of the Russian cultural component of Ukrainian national identity, to which more than half the population give some allegiance, can only lead to more political conflict.

Second, stop trying to force Ukrainians to choose between Europe and Russia. Every survey indicates that this is a choice that people do not want to make. A broader view of European identity, one that accepts Russia as part of Europe, would be the one with the most appeal in Ukraine today.

Such a tripartite approach (Russia-EU-Ukraine), previously suggested by Russia, Ukraine, as well as several former European leaders, is exactly what is needed right now to break the stalemate between the government and parliamentary opposition, and wean the latter away from its unhealthy dependence on the far right. Currently, the parliamentary opposition’s dilemma is that it cannot distance itself from the radicals without losing credibility as a force for real change. But if all of Ukraine’s major foreign partners were to present a united front, and insist on a coalition government that excluded the extreme right, the only ones left out in the cold would be the extremists.

Finally, stop regarding Ukrainian politicians as proxies for Russia, and Ukrainian politics as a battleground with Russia. Stop taking sides on domestic political issues based on simply on whether or not it is perceived to benefit Russia. Stop referring to the country’s most popular political party, the Party of Regions, as “pro-Russian.” It is not. Its members are just as staunchly pro-Ukrainian as their erstwhile political opponents, with whom they disagree over many issues, including the benefits of signing the EU Association Agreement. In sum, we need to take a more complex view of Ukraine, rather than filter it through how we view Russia.

Ukraine’s current trajectory is leading the country toward a divide. At best, this divide will leave profound scars in the body politic that will take decades to heal. At worst, it could still result in a physical divide.

The agreement signed between the government and the political opposition is promising, but it has one potentially fatal flaw—it does not address the problem of what to do with the extreme nationalists who have won for themselves the reputation of being the uncompromising spearhead of the revolution. The containment and disarmament of these extremists now needs to become the first order of business for any government of national unity. The success of the peace rests upon this, more than upon anything else.