Elina Valtonen noted that in the West they want Russia to open up to civil society and become normal democracy.
Russia will probably not turn into a peace-loving democracy if dictator Vladimir Putin leaves power.
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said this in an interview The Washington Post.
“I think that many may not have yet realized that this is not just Putin’s war. It seems that the Russian machine, so to speak, has been preparing for this for a very long time,” she emphasized .
Valtonen recalled that Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 and annexed Crimea in 2014. And during his reign, Putin “built an infrastructure around this.”
“It could have been two decades before someone (in Russia – ed.) told him (Putin – ed.) that this is not normal. Therefore, if Putin leaves, it is very unlikely that Russia will somehow become a peace-loving normal democracy,” Valtonen added.
She clarified that the West wants Russia to open up to civil society and become a normal democracy.< /p>
“But, hoping for this, we must prepare for the worst, and the worst thing is that Russia will remain as it is, and in the future it may be even worse,” the minister added.
Recall that in March, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Russian Federation Maria Lvov-Belova for the “illegal deportation” of Ukrainian children.
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