It is war that creates the Russian state: an international expert on whether Russia will change its intentions towards Ukraine

Only a real threat to the stability of Kremlin leader Volodymyr Putin’s regime can change his intentions regarding Ukraine.

This was stated by Dr. Daniel Szeligowski, Head of the Eastern Program at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, in an interview with the Kyiv Post.

Simply supporting Ukraine is not enough, he emphasized.

According to the expert, the war needs to be physically taken to Russian territory and Ukraine should be allowed to attack necessary targets.

Up to this point, the West has only reacted to Russia's actions without taking any proactive steps, so many people, according to the expert, believe that Ukraine is not truly at war with Russia. The West must take an active stance, conduct offensive information operations against the Russian regime and Russia, create both internal and external problems for the regime, exhaust Russian resources, and complicate their lives in different parts of the world.

"It is not true - we are really at war with Russia because Russia is at war with us," the expert stressed.

According to him, unless there is a real threat to the stability of the Russian regime, the Kremlin leader will not change his intentions regarding Ukraine.

Daniel Szeligowski is confident that Putin’s priority is the survival of his regime, and war is its fundamental element.

"War creates the Russian state and it is precisely on it that the new social contract is based. If there is a real threat to the Kremlin’s power, Putin’s calculations regarding Ukraine may change. History shows similar examples. We saw how France withdrew from Algeria due to the destabilization of the political situation within France and the threat to the stability of the government," the expert believes.

He is convinced that merely supporting Ukraine will not be enough. The war must be physically taken to Russian territory, and Ukraine should be allowed to attack necessary targets and strike all strategic objects.

"The West, for its part, must change its approach to Russian society. The current approach has led to Russians collectively enjoying the lack of responsibility," the expert believes.

"Sanctions must affect Russian society"

Daniel Szeligowski says that Russian citizens do not take responsibility for the actions of the Moscow regime, despite collectively supporting it.

"I believe that sanctions must affect Russian society, not just the elites. This way, we can break the social contract based on war and apply pressure to destabilize the system from within," the expert added.

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