This weekend has seen protests across Russia in support of Alexei Navalny. Tomila Lankina argues that with citizens taking to the streets, western leaders and businesses should reflect on their own relationship with the country

Lankina, Tomila V.

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LSE Research Online

Putin,	Russia,	and	the	moral	imperative	of	the	WestThis	weekend	has	seen	protests	across	Russia	in	support	of	Alexei	Navalny.	Tomila	Lankina	argues	that	withcitizens	taking	to	the	streets,	western	leaders	and	businesses	should	reflect	on	their	own	relationship	with	thecountry.Imagine	a	world	stripped	of	the	basic	elements	of	human	decency,	honesty,	and	honour,	a	world	where	theprimordial	instinct	of	greed,	accumulation,	avarice,	and	lust	for	endless	power	trumps	any	countervailing	moralcompasses	or	institutions	that	humanity	have	thought	of	to	constrain	and	channel	the	base	instincts	of	the	primitiveman.Navalny’s	video	of	Putin’s	palace,	watched	over	seventy	million	times,	has	given	us	a	glimpse	of	that	world	–	aworld	where	vulgarity	and	naked	gluttony	of	gargantuan	proportions	are	only	matched	by	the	vast	apparatuserected	to	defend	and	shelter	Russia’s	kleptocracy	against	the	citizen.Western	leaders	have	been	complicit	throughout	in	the	perpetuation	of	the	feast.	They	have	become	enablers	–turning	a	blind	eye	to	the	visible	and	the	not	so	well	concealed	“hidden”	in	plain	sight	edifices	of	theft	that	theRussian	rich	have	erected,	purchased,	and	laundered	across	Europe.	Political	leaders	and	the	business	class	havebeen	complicit	by	not	robustly	going	after	this	corruptly	acquired	wealth	and	strangling	the	hydra	personalised	byPutin.Over	and	over,	Russian	citizens	have	called	upon	European	leaders	to	act	and	target	where	it	hurts	the	most	–	thevillas,	the	vineyards,	the	chateaux,	and	the	insatiable	greed	and	thirst	for	the	formal	trappings	of	education	in	eliteprivate	schools,	Oxbridge,	and	the	Ivy	League.	The	properties	especially	should	have	been	long	frozen	out	and	thefeasts	that	they	host	squandering	the	proceeds	of	theft	from	the	Russian	people	should	have	been	stopped	–	bysimply	sanctioning	the	Putin	clique	out	of	access	and	ownership.Yet,	the	West	has	remained	effectively	silent	–	concealing	the	inaction	behind	bland,	banal,	and	rehearsed	politicalstatements	that	have	done	nothing	to	target	what	really	perpetrates	and	enables	Putin’s	power	–	the	thirst	of	hisclan	for	the	superficial	trappings	of	a	civilised	man,	which	only	the	West	can	seemingly	give	to	him,	his	mistresses,and	their	children.It	is	of	course	easy	to	pretend	that	the	West	is	effectively	immune	to	the	baseness	of	greed	and	power	revealed	inPutin’s	Palace,	paid	for	at	the	expense	of	Russians.	Yet,	recent	events	in	America	have	given	us	a	glimpse	ofanother	such	instance	of	a	base	instinct	unchecked	by	decency,	respect	for	institutions	and	the	law,	running	amok.Western	democracies	are	also	not	immune	to	the	reach	of	such	power	in	other	ways	–	for	every	Novichokpoisoning	attempt	that	goes	unpunished	even	when	perpetrated	on	western	soil,	there	will	be	others.	And	theinsatiable	thirst	for	prime	real	estate	of	Russia’s	Tzars	may	mean	that	the	lovely	sea-spot	that	is	Crimea	might	notbe	one	acquisition	too	many,	and	there	may	be	others.	As	Navalny	says	so	poignantly	in	his	video,	it	is	but	a	falsehope	that	the	treadmill	of	greed	will	one	day	be	satiated	and	will	stop.	It	won’t.Just	as	many	citizens	in	Russia,	on	this	weekend	of	mass	protest,	are	pausing	to	think	about	what	they	can	do	tosupport	Navalny	and	his	cause,	so	too	should	western	leaders	and	businesses	reflect	on	what	they	can	do	andwhere	they	have	fallen	short.	For	far	too	often	they	have	compromised	their	own	integrity,	for	the	simple	materialgain	of	selling	yet	another	London	property	to	an	oligarch	or	acquiring	a	retirement	sinecure	on	a	Russian	energycompany	board	of	directors,	all	while	blandly	prevaricating	in	political	and	media	statements.	It	is	never	too	late	toredeem	oneself.	This	is	your	and	our	chance.Note:	This	article	gives	the	views	of	the	author,	not	the	position	of	EUROPP	–	European	Politics	and	Policy	or	theLondon	School	of	Economics.	Featured	image	credit:	kremlin.ru	(CC	BY	4.0)LSE European Politics and Policy (EUROPP) Blog: Putin, Russia, and the moral imperative of the West Page 1 of 1		Date originally posted: 2021-01-24Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2021/01/24/putin-russia-and-the-moral-imperative-of-the-west/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/

Putin, Russia, and the moral imperative of the West

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Putin, Russia, and the moral imperative of the West

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