“Today’s Russia is an addict, with addiction to blood and violence. And like in most addiction cases, one of things that might help is honesty. Not by Russia’s opponents but by its friends. After all, they get hurt by this war too. Ideally, the right and honest thing to do would be to come to Putin and say: we are your friends, but what you are doing is not OK. 

Millions of lives are not a toy. If you have demands – say it and we will hear it. But you cannot just willy-nilly demand the land that is not yours. You cannot singlehandedly destroy every principle, upon which the post-WWII world was based: respect for sovereignty, inviolability of borders, rejection of aggression, denunciation of imperialism – the list is long. 

Of course, the probability that Putin would listen is uncertain (unless the big ones like China, South Africa or Brazil would join in), but at least it would be the moral thing to do. In justifying the unjustifiable Russia claims that while Ukraine is backed in this war by the West, Russia is backed by “the world’s majority”. In other words, it pretends to conduct this perverted war not for the sake of its imperial comeback but in the interest of Global South. 

Maybe it is time to correct this clear distortion of facts and make clear that neutrality and support of a war of aggression are not the same. And maybe it is time to say: “War of aggression? Not in our name!”