Why does Putin invade Ukraine ?
to restore the old glory of Russia

Dr Mohendra Irengbam *

Ukraine Map (showing troops movement as of March 05 2022)

Russian President Vladimir Putin is creating history and also invoking history. Putin is trying to capture Russia's global importance, which was lost after the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. On February 24 2022, President Putin in a predawn (5 am Moscow time) TV announcement, declared that “Russia could not feel safe, develop and exist” because of a constant threat from modern Ukraine” And “I have made the decision of a military operation.” He avoided using the word 'war' or 'invasion'.

Moments after he had finished speaking, long range cruise missiles began raining down on all corners of Ukraine. About 20 minutes later, 600 miles away, the Russian commando units had fired mortars at a Ukraine commando post at Kramatorsk airbase.

Other military headquarters and airports were attacked, while tanks, armour cars and troops began to roll out of Russia, Crimea and its ally Belarus. He claimed his action was to protect people subjected to bullying and genocide. It was he said, for the 'demilitarisation' and 'denazification' of Ukraine. He overlooked the fact that the president of Ukraine is a young Jewish man, named Volodymyr Zeilensky.

Putin like Hitler, wants to restore Russian's 'First-Tier' Status. In 1999, a few days before he became president, he wrote an article in the Russian newspaper, Nezavisimaya Gaeta that, “For the first time in the past 200-300 years, Russia faces the real danger that it could be neglected to the second, or even the third tier of global powers.” He called on Russians to unite to make sure the country remained a “first-tier: nation.”

Hitler had been nourishing a hatred against France for Germany's defeat and fall in WWI. When Germany surrendered they had to sign an Armistice on November 11 1918 in a railway carriage at Compiegne in France. The French constructed a monument , Alsace-Lorraine Monument with the inscription on it: 'Here on the eleventh of November 1918 succumbed the criminal pride of the German Empire, vanquished by the free peoples which it tried to enslave.

When the French surrendered in WWII, Hitler made the defeated French to sign the Armistice on June 22 1940 in the same railway carriage, brought and placed on the exact spot it had occupied twenty-two years before, agreeing to end hostilities and to the occupation of three-fifths of France that Germany had occupied. He got the epitaph removed and destroyed.

Hitler had recovered Germany's prude again, by not for long. Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 7 1945 to the Allies in Reims, France. Like Hitler, Putin had a personal trauma after the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9 1989, which signalled the end of Soviet control in Europe. Putin was a young 37 year old, Lt Col in the KGB, the dreaded Russian secret service, equivalent to American CIA. He was stationed in the East German city of Dresden. A few weeks' after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Putin's KGB office in Dresden was stormed by angry crowds. Putin watched them helplessly.

Putin felt that he was watching the fall of the largest and the most powerful empires in the world. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was for nearly half a century, one of the two greatest global powers. The other was America. Russia now lost relevance. It had no more powers to reckon with.

Putin said at that time, “I had the feeling that the country was no more. It had disappeared. ”He mourned the national humiliation. Since then he has been dreaming of Russia's rise to its former glory again. He said, “I wanted something different to rise in its place. And nothing different was proposed. That's what hurt. They just dropped everything and went away.”

I can't have wondering if Putin is suffering from an inferiority complex as he is quite short 1.7m (5' 7”) often wearing shoes with hidden heels. The only world leader shorter than him now is Angela Meckel of Germany. But she is a woman. Because he is short he may try to compensate for it by hyper-aggressiveness to wear down his opponents.

Research shows that among the fish species, smaller males start fighting more often than the bigger fish. And people with inferiority complex often overassert themselves as superior, as a physical compensation. In that they often become hyper-aggressive (Alfred Adler, Austrian medical doctor psychiatrist, 1870-1937CE). It is like a bald man who tries to compensate for his loss of head hair by gowning a long moustache and beard.

I have read so many of Putin's macho-side personality exhibitions, often photographed hunting, fishing or riding, bare-chested. With every photo opportunity, he maintains a calm and self-assured personality, dressed in well-cut and well-pressed suits, shirts and ties.

He is often seen burnishing his tough-talking, tough-guy image, a no-nonsense guy. He has many action-made credentials like a black-belt karate champion subduing his opponent, a dashing car racing driver, an accomplished fighter pilot, a scuba diver who has been immersed under water for 4 hours at a depth of 1, 4000 meters. Like Napoleon who was also 5ft and 7 inches tall, he may be a megalomaniac.

We don't know what his girlfriend, former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva, who is 30 years junior to him, think about him. But his ex-wife Ludmila, who was divorced in 2013, said, whenever he came home late at night, he drank a glass of kefir ( the most popular fermented Russian milk drink, not unlike yoghurt) before bed. She gave up cooking because Putin never praised her food. She constantly felt that he was watching her and checking whether she made the right decisions.

The transition after the Soviet collapse was hard for the Russia's population (part of the old USSR- a republic composed of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Latvia, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan and others). It was unbearable for Putin.

Putin rose swiftly in political ranks from being a mere KGB officer to become the deputy mayor of St Petersburg. In 1996, he was called to Moscow to work for President Yeltsin in Kremlin. Then he knew how weak Russia had become, while Yeltsin was drunk most of the times.

The most hilarious story of Yeltsin's drunken and disorderly farce, was when he was first invited by President Clinton to the Whitehouse in September 1994. One night, he wandered into the street, drunk in his underwear, apparently trying to get a pizza. Secret Service agents discovered Yeltsin alone in Penn Sylvania Avenue, dead drunk, yelling for a taxi in his slurred speech.

He did not want to go back into Blair House where he was staying, saying that He wanted to go out for a pizza. They got him a pizza. Next night, he tried it again, when he was thought to be a burglar by a security guard. Only the quick arrival of American and Russian Secret Service Agents, save him from a great embarrassment.

When president Yeltsin unexpectedly announced his resignation on August 9 1999 and named Putin as his acting president, Putin promised to rebuild a weakened Russia. He did indeed. He restored Russia's lost image bit by bit. He made it strong in the eyes of the world again.

Though he was relatively unknown, after years of Yeltsin's erratic behaviour, his public approval ratings soared soon when he launched a very successful military operation against the secessionist rebels in Chechnya. His coolness and decisive posture under pressure helped him to win in the December 31 1999 parliamentary elections. Putin became the acting President.

Putin quickly reasserted control over Russia and changed many administrative systems. He moved to reduce the power of Russia's unpopular financiers and media tycoons, known as 'oligarchs'.

Putin was determined to change the system. He changed the style differently to that of Yeltsin and other Russian politicians. He used a number of tricks from his KGB background to show he was in control. Putin turned history of Russia. He was determined that Russians should take pride in their history - Victory in World War II – the Great Patriotic War. He said Russians should not be made to feel guilty for their past, about the ruthless tactics of Stalin era. [Joseph Stalin starved millions in the Ukrainian famine of 1932-33.]

Ukraine is no threat to Russia. The reason why Russia is attacking Ukraine according to Putin, is because it wants to join the NATO Alliance, bringing the enemy missiles on the doorsteps of Russia. He also told Ukraine to abandon its claim to Crimea, which Putin annexed in 2014.

Some analysts in the West, think that perhaps Russia's resources at the moment is not optimum. Putin has used much of the $600 billion in foreign currency reserves into constructing the Russian Army to its former glory.

Putin tested the Western and American resolve, by massing his army on the borders of Ukraine, under pretext of a military excise. He knew then there were disagreements among the NATO country members as to how to react to his aggression. And he was also aware of the American weakness under President Biden.

Caution on the part of NATO and America is exercised lest it would spark a third world war using nuclear weapons. The WHO is helpless in this tragedy. It is only looking into Putin's human rights' violations for future use. Sanctions from everywhere do not deter Putin from attacking Ukraine.

Putin's speech on February 22 2022, shows that he wants the world to recognise that Russia is entitled to exert its influence in territories that rightfully Russian by common culture and history, such as Ukraine, which Ukrainians rightfully dispute.

Putin has constructed an image of a supreme hero during his presidency for more than two decade. His present behaviour has probably been shaped by his upbringing and his environment. Putin was born in Leningrad in 1952. He was preceded by 2 siblings who died, one of them from diphtheria. His father worked in a factory and his mother worked wherever she found a job. They lived in a dilapidated apartment with no hot water and a bath tub or heating during winter. During the 3-year Nazi siege of Leningrad in WWII, his mother nearly died of starvation. Three million people died. One million of starvation.

He was bullied severely during his childhood and he was left to fend for himself against the company of boys of the neighbourhood. He learnt Judo. He excelled in school and eventually got a law degree. He joined the KGB. He thus became a 'macho' distrustful of the West, dreaming to restore the glory of the erstwhile USSR.

What now ahead? It is the beginning of the second week of invasion of Ukraine. Putin has made it sure that no country with fight with Ukraine by flexing nuclear muscles. The European powers are squabbling over potential sanctions without any coherent agreement. NATO is helpless as Ukraine is not a member.

NATO has 30 members. They are a bit wary of Putin. They dare not help Ukraine with troops and weapons. NATO has become a paper tiger. Only Britain sent anti-tank and other weapons to begin with. Now, many NATO members are pouring weapons as well as military equipment like helmets into Ukraine. America now has sent hundreds of tanks and artillery that are deployed around Ukraine to warn Putin not to invade NATO countries.

Putin has made his standing in the world, right at the top. Many Western leader are queuing to see him. They will all be made to sit at the far end of a long table, as he did to President Emmanuel Macron of France. Putin reminds me of the scene of an Indian Maharajah going to see the King-Emperor in London.

While the International prosecutors of the UN, are totting up Brownie points for Putin's Human Rights violations, the church bells were ringing out across Ukraine on March 3 2020, reminding them 'For whom the bell tolls? It tolls for them.

Putin is careful not to err on the side of caution, lest he could be blamed for genocide by killing civilians during this war. He is advancing slowly. He is not using his deadly war planes for bombing Ukraine. What is likely to happen in the next few weeks? He may finish his conquest of Ukraine and annex it to Russia, as China did to Tibet in 1950.

Or, he may declare a unilateral ceasefire and retreat, having achieved what he wanted. That is the recognition by the world of the might of Russia that no country in the world could challenge. This was what China did to India in 1962.

We just have to wait and see how a big fish attack a small fish, while other stressed fish swim frantically around.


Author's website: drimsingh.com