Former Soviet refusenik and prisoner of Zion Natan Sharansky spoke with the Israeli media outlet Srugim about the situation in Ukraine.

“I’ve been in touch with the communities there for years,” Sharansky said. “The Russian invasion of Ukraine won’t stop with Kyiv. Russia wants to wage a coup there. The situation is very problematic, it’s far beyond just the lot of Ukraine.”

“I don’t see an immediate threat to Jewish communities. There is no anti-Semitism at the [Russian] governmental level. In Ukraine, the situation is very dangerous but they have one advantage – there’s a Jewish Agency that will help them immigrate to Israel. It’s true that some of the emissaries have returned to Israel but emissaries to assist in aliyah are continuing their work there.”

“It’s a very dramatic situation – a change of world order, very significant. We see the difference between Russia – which acts without any hesitation against international agreements, and on the other side, the Western world that sits idly by and prays, or chooses not to take steps that could immediately affect the situation.”

The interviewer asked Sharansky: “What does Putin want to achieve?”

“Putin said explicitly in recent days that he wants to return Ukraine to its place, within Russia. ‘Ukrainians are not a people and Ukraine is not a country.’ His big dream is to regain Russia’s control of most of the former Soviet territory. The moment he sees the weakness of the West – and he identified this already in 2014, in the weakness of Obama.”

“Does the West have an effective way to stop the attack, or get Putin to stop?”

“Once the West has decided and declared that it won’t take military action, there is no counter-reaction. He assumes that within two to three days he’ll already occupy Ukraine, and he acts on it. Regarding long-term responses – there is no doubt that the Western world’s response of imposing sanctions – if they work together to isolate and weaken Russia – will help. It requires willpower for them to carry it out for an extended period of time and not just one press conference.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)