Another extraordinary week has seen Ukraine’s continued destruction of the Russian military and total humiliation of Vladimir Putin.
What’s the latest?
Russia is now rightly being identified by some members of Congress as a terrorist state. As an extension, the latest talk in NATO capitals is about helping Ukraine win outright, not just resist Russia. And for the first time, a senior U.S. official has stated what many of us have been writing about for some time now — namely, that Ukraine can win this war and that we can and should help them get there with the provision of more advanced weapons. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin wasn’t done, however. Greeting his Ukrainian counterpart with a beaming bear hug, he showed that America has both a physical and philosophical stake in this conflict. And most important of all, Austin added that the U.S. wants to see Russia weakened in its desire and ability to export chaos and misery.
Bravo!
Sadly, we’ve seen some handwringing from members of the foreign policy chattering classes here in D.C. They worry that Austin’s comments were somehow escalatory or untoward. What they fail to realize is the fact that Russia has been in a state of war — hybrid war — against the U.S. and Europe for years now. Putin and his military command have openly and unapologetically stated as much. So what in the world is wrong with the U.S. finally taking the gloves off and aggressively countering Russia?
Again, Russia’s record of aggression isn’t hypothetical. Putin interfered in our 2016 elections, seeking to expand divisions among our people and weaken our democracy. He has conducted relentless cyberattacks against U.S. targets, including hospitals and other elements of our critical infrastructure that have nothing to do with the U.S. government or military. Russia is likely to have paid bounties to the Taliban to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Putin’s cronies also conducted a callous chemical weapons attack in Europe: The Novichok nerve agent used in the 2018 poisoning of Sergei Skripal could have killed thousands in the United Kingdom. Putin’s spies then discarded their Novichok device, disguised as a perfume bottle, in a public area. It was found by a vulnerable person who gave it to his girlfriend, Dawn Sturgess. She died in agony. Then, of course, Russia invaded Ukraine, a close U.S. partner and, by measure of shared interest, de facto ally.
Put simply, it is, and has long before been, high time to counter Russia aggressively. That means weakening Putin’s regime as well. It’s almost as if, after Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, we are actually afraid of winning!
Ukraine has no such qualms. The effectiveness of its special operations and intelligence forces has been quite remarkable. Once their operational stories eventually come out, they will be written about for decades and rightly become part of Ukrainian lore. Things are mysteriously blowing up in Russia these days, including ammunition and fuel depots and other sensitive military sites. And what of the saboteurs who attacked rail lines in Belarus and Russia to stymie Russian logistics movements? Well, they showed old-school insurgency/partisan tactics, reminiscent of the OSS in the Second World War! The sinking of the Russian cruiser Moskva, the pride of the Black Sea fleet? Again, one hell of an operation.
How did the Ukrainians get so good?
In my view, 2014-2022 was a lab experiment in eastern Ukraine in which the Ukrainian military and intelligence services (along with Western advisers) all learned a great deal about Russian military and tactics. What was once a lab experiment is now being translated into a tangible product. Kudos to the Ukrainian practitioners of the dark arts.
The U.S. can be proud of something else. We are returning our embassy personnel to Ukraine. Before Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s announcement, we were lagging behind other nations, including the U.K. It was embarrassing and made us look weak. No longer. The return of our embassy staff is both enormously symbolic and practically important. Symbolic because we are the leader of the coalition helping Ukraine, so we must be inside Ukraine — our people must be proudly serving underneath our flag at Embassy Kyiv — and practical because we need U.S. eyes on what is happening inside Ukraine. Our diplomats and military attaches are far more effective in person, working directly with their Ukrainian counterparts rather than through communications channels.
There are concerns. I still worry, for example, that the tragic events of Benghazi in 2012 have made us far too timid. We seem overly cautious in rushing to close embassies when things get tense. Yes, overseas duty is dangerous. But this is what we all signed up for. I’ve been in insanely dangerous places, and I was fine with it. Similarly, I’m sure Embassy Kyiv personnel are celebrating their return.
What comes next?
Designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism would be good. Several members of Congress, including my friend and former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger, recently wrote to Blinken and asked him to consider doing just this. Why wait?
Just look at the deliberate atrocities and wanton war crimes Russia has committed. That’s on top of what Putin’s Russia did even before this conflict began. Russia’s support of the Wagner mercenary group is a textbook case in point. A private organization reportedly under the tutelage of Russian military intelligence, the Wagner Group has killed, raped, and pillaged from Ukraine to Syria to African nations such as Mali, Libya, and Sudan. This designation matters because it would sanction other nations that do business with Russia. It would further isolate Russia. Moreover, it would allow victims of Russian terrorism past and present to sue Putin’s government. They could access Russian funds held in U.S. jurisdictions. Designation would do something else: show that Russia has become a true pariah state. Moscow would be seen just like its allies in Damascus, Havana, Tehran, and Pyongyang.
It’s time to put the pedal on the gas.
Marc Polymeropoulos is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. A former CIA senior operations officer, he retired in 2019 after a 26-year career serving in the Near East and South Asia. His book Clarity in Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the CIA was published in June 2021 by Harper Collins.
