West Should Seek Compromise With Putin Instead of ‘Demonizing’ Him

Western politicians have underestimated the importance of Ukraine for Russia and made a mistake while trying to understand the strategic goals of Putin’s policy, author of the book "The World of Putin" Katja Gloger believes.

Instead of "demonizing" the Russian leader, the West should seek a compromise with him and recognize that Ukraine should play the role of "a bridge between East and West," Gloger wrote, cited by the German newspaper Die Welt.

In her book, Gloger gives up the idea of "Putin’s demonization," arguing that Putin is not "a mysterious figure,” but a person who struggles to return to his country the status of superpower. 

In this regard, Ukraine has played for Putin an essential role. According to Gloger, Putin's Eurasian model was supposed to be not only an ideological construct, but also an economic structure designed to re-integrate the post-Soviet space from Belarus to Kyrgyzstan, including Ukraine.

Putin could not achieve its goal without keeping Ukraine within its sphere of influence. The latter is of great importance for Russia and Europeans have "inexcusably underestimated" this fact.

Therefore, "the situation in Ukraine developed according to the worst case scenario — a scenario of war, which in fact no one wants any longer due to the enormous costs required to restore the destroyed regions" the author wrote.

She also argued that Russia remains an important player in the international community. Without Russia it is impossible to solve global problems, and therefore the West’s "policy of containment" is wrong, the journalist wrote.