“Sweden’s long-awaited, much delayed arrival into NATO is the required consequence for a bad actor. For years, Vladimir Putin expressed his desire to create buffer between Moscow and the West. This was how Putin saw Ukraine, and to a lesser extent Georgia, before the Orange and Rose Revolutions. His 2008 invasion of Georgia, and the 2014 and 2022 invasions of Ukraine are simply Putin’s attempt to rebuild the buffer by force.
NATO, and the Western world, are right to hand him a substantial consequence for his aggression. His war has not only cost hundreds of thousands of Russian lives and billions in Russian equipment but has now produced the one thing he sought to prevent: Western militaries running the length of his borders.”
Read VOD Board Member Garret Exner’s full comments here.