The lives of millions of Ukrainians are at stake, and any delay may cost dear price. If the Russian Federation is not stopped by the severest sanctions now, a disastrous war will erupt in one of the biggest countries of Europe with the potential to spill over into NATO countries and grow into a large-scale regional conflict.

On February 21, 2022 the Russian Federation reached a point of no return in its aggression against sovereign Ukraine, breaching its borders and neglecting intensive preventive diplomatic efforts of the collective West.

Russia has once again bluntly violated international law

The instruments Russia is using now painfully remind us of the darkest hours of European history from the last century, that we all pledged not to repeat. Fake casus belli acts are backed by unimaginable volumes of propaganda. The recognition of the so-called “Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics” is just the beginning. A full scale attack against Ukraine’s sovereignty, threat to the critical infrastructure, and undermining the Ukrainian political institutions will follow shortly if the West does not respond swiftly and harshly to existing Russian crimes.

The aggressor can only be stopped by effective immediate counter-actions, using a wide range of targeted sanctions designed to weaken Putin’s resolve and to target the whole sectors of the Russian economy, most critical for the existence of Putin’s regime.

THE WEST NEEDS TO ACT NOW!

The Warsaw Security Forum Democracy Network is a platform of civil society organizations from Belarus, Czechia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine, designed to amplify the voice of organizations fighting for the integrity of the democratic process – in Central Europe and beyond.
Its role is to reach out and inform a broader audience of policy-makers, opinion-shapers, scholars and community leaders about the importance of upholding democratic principles in security policy – particularly in times of security crisis.
More about the Democracy Network