NATO Review: Russia, Ukraine, and Crimea: A Predictable Crisis?

Published: Dec. 10, 2014, 8:10 p.m.

b"How much could we have seen the Crimea crisis coming? NATO Review talks to security experts and asks whether there were enough clues in Russia's previous adventures - especially in Estonia and Georgia - to indicate that Crimea would be next. \\n\\n00.12 - Paul King \\u2013 Editor, NATO Review \\u2013 voice-over\\nWhen Russia annexed Georgia\\u2019s regions of South-Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008 some western politicians warned that Russia wasn\\u2019t finished yet.\\n\\n00.21 \\u2013 Linas Linkevi\\u010dius \\u2013 Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lithuania\\nWe said it would be more at that time. No one listened. By the way, we mentioned Crimea. We mentioned Transnistria. So Crimea is gone. Transnistria maybe not, but who can exclude it?\\n\\n00.34 \\u2013 Alex Petriashvili \\u2013 State Minister of Georgia on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration\\nThe Russians have learned lessons from 2008. Unfortunately, the Western countries less. \\n\\n00.42 - Paul King \\u2013 voice-over\\nBut many Western countries were anxious to keep the relationship with Russia stable \\n\\n00.47 \\u2013 Karel Kovanda \\u2013 Former Czech Ambassador to NATO\\nThe reaction to the Georgian invasion, I think, was number 1: very weak, and number 2: rather surprising.\\n\\n00.58 \\u2013 Linas Linkevi\\u010dius \\nWe told then, in 2008: Let\\u2019s be consistent. Let\\u2019s do what we decided. Let\\u2019s implement and let\\u2019s stick to this, you know, because we made very good statements at that time, very good demands, very clear. We can have a look. These documents are available. In meetings, communiqu\\xe9s\\u2026 spending some time to draft. And in two months we\\u2019re back to business as normal. \\n\\n01.20 - Paul King \\u2013 voice-over\\nSome feel the West\\u2019s reaction may have fostered more confidence in the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin.\\n\\n01.28 \\u2013 Karel Kovanda\\nCalculations of a guy who has got his KGB history, who is a judo sportsman, in that sense makes use of the strength of the opponent by throwing him over, who has his history of dealing with the criminal gangs of Petersburg, and as somebody mentioned, a history of having been a hooligan in his youth. \\n\\n01.50 \\u2013 Konstantin von Eggert \\u2013 Kommersant FM Radio, Editor in Chief\\nWell, I think the general perception in Moscow was that the West is weak. I\\u2019m not trying to psychoanalyse Putin, but if we are talking about the general feeling in the political class, that\\u2019s pretty true. I actually would concur with that. You\\u2019re looking at the most un-Atlanticist, to put it mildly, American administration in decades. You are looking at a European Union, which is consumed by its own problems and which actually is not ready and not willing to engage in any kind of major, coordinated foreign policy action with players like Russia. So, it\\u2019s very conducive from the point of view of Mister Putin. \\n\\n02.34 - Paul King \\u2013 voice-over\\nRegardless of the Russian leadership\\u2019s motivation, the Russian moves in Ukraine may have backfired in terms of what was intended and what has actually happened. \\n\\n \\n\\n02.44 - Konstantin von Eggert\\nIf you look back to mid December, people in the Kremlin were thinking and actually were saying: Ukraine is in our pockets. Yes, the Crimea now is in Russia\\u2019s pockets, but as far as Ukraine is concerned, it\\u2019s far from being in Russia\\u2019s pockets. Actually, I think that Russia\\u2019s influence in Ukraine, especially in Kiev, has dwindled to nearly zero. And I suppose that this is the law of unintended consequences that Lilia Shevtsova, so eloquently usually speaks about. It is about creating narratives, which in the end have their own logic. Sometimes you can control them, sometimes you cannot. And I think that this does create funnily enough or tragically enough, depending on how you look at it, more instability in Russia, not only externally, but possibly domestically. \\n\\n03.35 - Paul King \\u2013 voice-over\\nWhat is clear that what some have described as the mistakes of the approach of 2008, have not been repeated in 2014. And that at least is to be welcomed.\\n\\n03.46 - Alex Petriashvili\\nThis time the reaction was there, is there and I hope very much that there will be a stronger reaction if it goes farther.\\n\\n03.59 - Linas Linkevi\\u010dius\\nNon-action is provocative. No decision is provocative. This is a signal and this should be realised one day. It really should be learned. But sometimes we need many, many lessons. Many, many wake-up calls to be woken up, which is sad, but this is reality.\\n\\n\\n\\nNATO Review\\n\\nwww.nato.int/review\\n\\nThe opinions expressed in NATO Review do not necessarily reflect those of NATO or its member countries. \\n\\n\\nThis video contains footage from ITN. While this video may be reproduced and used in its entirety, ITN footage cannot be used as part of a new production."