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Michael McFaul Profile picture
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Feb 24 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Putin is seeking to roll back the 2014 Revolution of Dignity. A thread from my article with @RTPerson3 in the @JoDemocracy. 1/ THREAD
"Amazingly, eight years of unrelenting Russian pressure did not break Ukraine’s democracy. Just the opposite." 2/
After Putin’s annexation and ongoing support for the war in Donbas, Ukrainians are now more united across ethnic, linguistic, and regional divides than at any other point in Ukrainian history. 3/
"In 2019, President Volodymyr Zelensky won in a landslide, winning popular support in every region of Ukraine. Not surprisingly, Putin’s war also has fueled greater popular support among Ukrainians for joining NATO." 4/
"So now, Putin has decided on a new strategy for ending Ukrainian democracy: massive military intervention." 5/ END THREAD

journalofdemocracy.org/what-putin-fea… via @JoDemocracy

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More from @McFaul

Michael McFaul Profile picture
Feb 24
During the Brezhnev era, communism seemed to be on the march. Communist regimes seized power in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Angola, Mozambique, Nicaragua. 1/ THREAD
Emboldened by these victories, Brezhnev overreached and invaded Afghanistan. We know how that ended. 2/
Before today, Putin -- like Brezhnev -- also seemed on a roll. He launched successful wars in Chechnya 1999, Georgia 2008, Ukraine 2014 & Syria 2015. 3/
Read 6 tweets
Michael McFaul Profile picture
Feb 24
Amazingly, eight years of unrelenting Russian pressure did not break Ukraine’s democracy. Just the opposite. THREAD 1/
"After Putin’s annexation and ongoing support for the war in Donbas, Ukrainians are now more united across ethnic, linguistic, and regional divides than at any other point in Ukrainian history." 2/
"In 2019, President Volodymyr Zelensky won in a landslide, winning popular support in every region of Ukraine. Not surprisingly, Putin’s war also has fueled greater popular support among Ukrainians for joining NATO." 3/
Read 4 tweets
Michael McFaul Profile picture
Feb 23
Seems to be some amnesia over how Trump (albeit, not his administration) bent over backward to embrace, praise, and appease Putin just as he did again yesterday. Reposting a few pieces, in case you forget. THREAD 1/
Opinion | A Russian dissident is fighting for his life. Where is the U.S.? washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-rus… 2/
Opinion | Why Trump’s complacency about Putin is a problem — whatever his motives washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/… 3/
Read 7 tweets
Michael McFaul Profile picture
Feb 23
“Because the primary threat to Putin and his autocratic regime is democracy, not NATO, that perceived threat would not magically disappear with a moratorium on NATO expansion." 1/ THREAD
"Putin would not stop seeking to undermine democracy and sovereignty in Ukraine, Georgia, or the region as whole if NATO stopped expanding." 2/
"As long as citizens in free countries exercise their democratic rights to elect their own leaders and set their own course in domestic and foreign politics, Putin will keep them in his crosshairs.” 3/
Read 4 tweets
Michael McFaul Profile picture
Feb 23
To those arguing that NATO expansion has been a constant source of tension with Russia, a few facts. 1/ THREAD
November 2001, Putin said this: “we differ in the ways and means we perceive that are suitable for reaching the same objective… [But] one can rest assured that whatever final solution is found, it will not threaten … the interests of both our countries and of the world.”
Putin also in 2001, “Russia acknowledges the role of NATO in the world of today, Russia is prepared to expand its cooperation with this organization. " 3/
Read 9 tweets
Michael McFaul Profile picture
Feb 20
To add, "verbal commitments" mean next to nothing in diplomacy. During the New START treaty negotiations, Russians heard a verbal commitment from our side to limit missile defenses. Obama personally had to walk it back. 1/ THREAD
He told Medvedev that we would never commit to that in a written agreement. I was there with him during the call. It was a very tough call. 2/
When the treaty was signed, none of these "verbal commitments" showed up in the final text. A real, credible commitment not to expand NATO would have been codified in a treaty. Or at least a joint statement. It was not. 3/
Read 4 tweets

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