Russia must be treated like an international bully - Professor Frost

RIGA - Russia is a former superpower that has not yet got used to this idea and is trying to avoid this status by all means, Mervyn Frost, professor of international relations at King's College London's Department of War Studies, told LETA in an interview.

"We are well aware that Russia is no longer a superpower, but rather a third world country, because it is totally dependent on oil and gas production, it does not produce anything special. Russia is a former superpower that has not yet got used to this idea," said Frost.

He compared Russia to a hero in a western movie who, though wounded and completely without strength and ammunition, still wants to "put everyone down" in a few seconds.

The professor said that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's desperate attempts to find or invent Russian greatness and to recapture what was the Soviet Union are hopeless. "There is no chance of that, he is delusional," Frost said.

Asked about Russia's targeting of the international order and its diversions aimed at Western countries, the Professor of International Relations in the Department of War Studies at King's College said that Russia should be treated as an international bully.

"We are seeing that in this war and that is why Ukraine is getting NATO assistance. Because NATO sees that Russia is violating the main principle of the community of states - sovereignty and borders. Russia is trying to expand its borders in a very old-fashioned, imperialist way. One of the rules of the modern global order is that imperialism is over and no country is allowed to try to expand its territory. Meanwhile, Putin is trying to do just that," said the King's College professor.

He believes that Russia is not fighting against Western values, but rather against global values, against the global order of states that encompasses all these values.

Frost, known as an ethical philosopher of international relations, stressed that the key issue in the Ukraine war is not necessarily the military but the ethical level - who is the "good guy" and who is the "bad guy" in this war, who is winning the battle for these positions.

"Putin is losing this battle spectacularly at the moment, he is certainly not seen as a hero. The West must try to highlight these ethical misdeeds of Russia. Being the bad guy from an ethical point of view is really important. After that, the next step is the political effect. Ordinary Russians will increasingly wonder why we support this man at all," said the professor.

He believes that an information campaign in Russia is very much needed, but admitted that it is very difficult to implement.

"If Russian hackers can spread all sorts of disinformation in the West, then surely we also have the means to reach the Russian people somehow. We are technologically much more advanced than they are. All the dirty tricks they play against us, we can also reverse. Thanks to the way the internet is structured, it is impossible to block everything," said Frost.

He considers the strategic communication of the European Union (EU) and NATO a success in terms of audience perception and understanding, because "the world understands very well what the EU and NATO are".

"In the big picture, the Ukraine conflict is just a concert on a small stage, the overall world view has not changed. The world order has not changed. The most important actor that could influence this order and therefore needs to be watched carefully is China. Also India, the whole of South-East Asia and Japan. What is happening between Ukraine and Russia is just a kind of aftershock of the collapse of the Soviet Union. It collapsed, but a crazy leader has emerged who has imagined that he will be able to bring it back. Even though he has not got a chance," Frost explained.

In the case of Russia, the professor believes that the West should pursue a similar policy to the Marshall Plan after the Second World War, when the Americans decided to rebuild a defeated Germany because its punishment after the First World War eventually led to the Second World War. He therefore condemns calls for harsh punishment of Russia.

"Russia must be deterred and then proposals must be made to help Russia recover. Because Russia is in a terrible state at the moment. We have to remember that ordinary people in Russia are just like us, they are not fundamentally evil, they too deserve a democratic, stable and prosperous country. Now we need to be clear about how to stop Putin, but we also need to think about helping Russia to develop," says Frost.