Two years ago today, Putin’s Russia, started the worst war in Europe since 1945 by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine is not just a physical and territorial war. President Putin repeats more and more often, that this is a war of values, where our values, on individual freedom and respect for each of us are at stake.
And we see from his own country, that Putin’s values are not ours. Step by step Putin and his regime has reduced their countrymen from being individuals to obedient tools for the regime’s increasingly extreme desires.
He began by restricting freedom of expression and removing critical voices. He has eliminated opposition, media, journalists, and business leaders who were critical of his policies and demands for adherence to them. We saw it recently when Aleksej Navalnyj died in Putin’s prison.
Putin and his men have long shown contempt for human diversity. Already in 2017, he had his inmate vassal in Chechnya arrest, torture and kill people believed to be gay. In his own country, Putin has not only made it very difficult to be LGBT+, but he has also even declared all LGBT+ organizing extremist and banned organised LGBT+ work. In the war against Ukraine, he has deliberately mobilized the poor and young people from minority backgrounds.
The decisions shows that the wars Putin has launched, first in Georgia, then in Ukraine as well as internally against all who dare to be different in the Russian society, are not just a territorial war. It is a war on values – the basic human rights and the value of each individual.
That is why Ukraine’s fight for freedom also is our fight against an authoritarian ideology, that does not respect basic human rights and human diversity.
That is why both military and political support as well as human aid to Ukraine is more important than
ever. And Ukraine needs it NOW.
