プーチン専門家は何を語る

プーチンの専門家として著名なのがFiona Hill氏で著書は邦訳もされているようで、欧米では引っ張りだことのようです。New York Timesにも寄稿していました。今回の出来事は2008年のウクライナのNATO加盟申請まで遡るようです。

Putin Has the U.S. Right Where He Wants It

Jan. 24, 2022　By Fiona Hill

We knew this was coming.

“George, you have to understand that Ukraine is not even a country. Part of its territory is in Eastern Europe and the greater part was given to us.” These were the ominous words of President Vladimir Putin of Russia to President George W. Bush in Bucharest, Romania, at a NATO summit in April 2008.

Mr. Putin was furious: NATO had just announced that Ukraine and Georgia would eventually join the alliance. This was a compromise formula to allay concerns of our European allies — an explicit promise to join the bloc, but no specific timeline for membership.

At the time, I was the national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia, part of a team briefing Mr. Bush. We warned him that Mr. Putin would view steps to bring Ukraine and Georgia closer to NATO as a provocative move that would likely provoke pre-emptive Russian military action. But ultimately, our warnings weren’t heeded.

プーチンの思惑で動いており、今回のタイミングも昨年がソ連邦崩壊30周年を考えると欠かせない機会だったようです。

As I have seen over two decades of observing Mr. Putin, and analyzing his moves, his actions are purposeful and his choice of this moment to throw down the gauntlet in Ukraine and Europe is very intentional. He has a personal obsession with history and anniversaries. December 2021 marked the 30th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when Russia lost its dominant position in Europe. Mr. Putin wants to give the United States a taste of the same bitter medicine Russia had to swallow in the 1990s. He believes that the United States is currently in the same predicament as Russia was after the Soviet collapse: grievously weakened at home and in retreat abroad. He also thinks NATO is nothing more than an extension of the United States. Russian officials and commentators routinely deny any agency or independent strategic thought to other NATO members. So, when it comes to the alliance, all of Moscow’s moves are directed against Washington.

最新の状況に関するNPRでのインタビューはこちら。なぜ今なのかという素朴な疑問に応えてくれています。ドイツでは新しい首相になったばかりですし、フランスも大統領選挙を控えている、アメリカのバイデン政権は支持率低迷に苦しんでいる、そんな足元を見ての対応であるようです。

Ex-intelligence officer Fiona Hill says Putin is making 'hostage standoff demands'

February 11, 20224:25 PM ET

SHAPIRO: Putin has had these demands for a long time, and so why do you think he's putting this pressure on now?

HILL: He sees a moment that perhaps will not return, where it's probably a weak point for Europe, with changes over in government in Germany, for example, fights with the U.K. after Brexit, Poland and other countries being on the odds with the European Union, France about to have an election.

He also sees the United States a lot weaker domestically than it has before. The withdrawal from Afghanistan, for example, is a sort of a twofold view for Putin - weakness on the United States' part but also a willingness to pull out over the heads of Europeans without consultation. And he sees in the person of Joe Biden someone who understands European security, knows the backstory and the history of all of this and may be somebody who is more conducive to being able to negotiate with than, you know, say, President Trump if he comes back again in 2024.

Plus, Putin himself has to get reelected in 2024 for the presidency. He wants to, you know, as he said, stay in power longer, and he wants to show a big win to his own population.

ここまではプーチンの思い通りな訳ですが、最後にプーチンにとってのリスクについて聞いています。欧米が一丸となって対応することとロシア市民の反応だそうです。

SHAPIRO: As you've described it, Putin holds a pretty good hand here. What do you think the biggest risks for him are?

HILL: Well, there are a lot of risks here in terms of miscalculating. I think one is that, you know, perhaps didn't even expect the unified response that we've had from the West.

But, you know, in terms of Ukraine, it's highly possible that they didn't envisage that there would be - and still maybe don't - a major response from Ukraine in terms of Ukrainian military or the standing army and of the civilian militias, for example. They probably didn't foresee that there would be such a swift movement by the United States and European allies to, you know, pull together a response. They were definitely caught off guard by the United States first announcing that it was seeing this massive troop buildup.

There's also the prospect of miscalculation on the domestic front. It's not entirely clear that the Russian population would be particularly behind a major military operation in Ukraine, or even, you know, a massive confrontation with the West, absent some really clear pretext. And this could, you know, backfire immensely for Russian interests in Europe, which are not just security interests but economic and trade and, you know, people to people, not just Russian oligarchs living, you know, in Europe, but, you know, ordinary Russian citizens and ordinary businesspeople and students, you know, and other citizens, for example.

ロシア市民はウクライナとの戦争になってもプーチンを支持し続けるかについて慎重な見通しを書いていたのが、Foreign Affairsの次の記事です。ただでさえ制裁で苦しんでいるのに、命の犠牲を伴うようになれば、いくら抑圧的な社会でも持たないのではないだろうかという見立てです。

Would Russians Embrace War?

Why an Attack on Ukraine Might Erode Putin’s Support

By Andrei Kolesnikov　February 9, 2022