With death tolls increasing in Ukraine and shocking images of the invasion being broadcast worldwide, Americans are grappling to understand why the invasion is happening at all, and what can be done.
Now Habersham sat down with Piedmont University Professor of History, Al Pleysier Ph.D., a Russian history expert, to discuss the politics that led up to the invasion and the American response to the war.
Putin, the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire
Pleysier is no stranger to Russian history. He’s been a professor on the subject for 40 years at Piedmont University, and he’s spent his career studying it— from writing books on the Soviet Union to participating in archeological work in Crimea. He says that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine is an attempt to rebuild the Russian empire destroyed by the Soviet Union, and boost the country’s economic prosperity.
He says that after the fall of the Soviet Union, satellite states of the Russian empire, like Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine all gained their independence. To a young Putin, who had grown up under Soviet rule, this was a loss of power.
“Putin will tell you that was one of the worst things that ever happened in his life,” Pleysier said. “Not because the communist party fell, but because the empire fell. And he wants that empire back.”
But why invade now? Pleysier says he believes that because of how the Obama administration reacted to the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014, Putin didn’t expect to see an American reaction to the invasion of Ukraine.
“During the time that Barack Obama was president and Joe Biden was his vice president, Barack Obama placed Joe Biden in charge of the relationship between the United States and Crimea,” Pleysier said. “Putin was able to get away with Crimea, and [Biden] has been in office for a year.”
He says that he believes Putin thinks he can get away with more invasions under Biden’s leadership due to how he reacted to the Russian invasion of Crimea 8 years ago, and that now, he wants to take everything back.
“Now he doesn’t just want Crimea, he wants all of Ukraine,” Pleysier said. “Not because he wants to establish the Soviet Union— because he wants to re-establish the Russian Empire as it was.”
Zelensky’s plea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded with the US Congress Wednesday morning to bring more aid to Ukraine. Specifically, to help them with a no-fly zone, a response to Russia’s attacks on the country. Recently, one of those attacks included bombing a maternity hospital in Mariupol.
“Remember Pearl Harbor, [the] terrible morning of December 7, 1941, when your sky was black from the planes attacking you,” he said. “Just remember it, remember, September the 11th, a terrible day in 2001 when evil tried to turn US cities into battlefields when innocent people were attacked from [the] air, just like nobody else expected it and you could not stop it. Our country experiences the same, every day, right now at this moment.”
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However, the US is hesitant to offer assistance for a no-fly zone. Canada and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have refused to enforce a no-fly zone after hearing Zelensky’s impassioned remarks earlier this week, similar to those the United States heard today.
Pleysier says it’s a good thing the US hasn’t moved quickly to help Ukraine enforce a no-fly zone.
“I appreciate what Joe Biden is doing, he’s being very careful of that [no-fly zone],” Pleysier said. “If you do go into Ukraine with air cover, and you do shoot down a Russian plane, then you could have a world war. Then that cold war could become a hot war.”
While the US hasn’t committed to helping with a no-fly zone, US President Joe Biden allocated an additional $800 million to Ukrainian efforts to fight back against Russia’s invasion Wednesday afternoon. Shortly after, Biden told reporters that he thinks Putin is a war criminal.
BREAKING: Pres. Biden calls Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin a ” war criminal.” https://t.co/ORuOYE3lBs pic.twitter.com/9XHbwoCZrq
— ABC News (@ABC) March 16, 2022
Pleysier says he has no doubt that Putin has committed war crimes. He tells Now Habersham he thinks it’s “unbelievable” that anyone would have any hesitation in calling Putin a war criminal.
“This is murder, you’re a murderer,” Pleysier said of Putin. “You’re the one that gives the orders.”
The United Nations Human Rights office reports that since attacks on Ukraine began, at least 1,900 Ukrainian civilians have died and 1,174 have been injured. They estimate that the actual numbers are considerably higher.
