Todorov for The Geopost: Russia aims to destroy the EU and NATO

In addition to the war in Ukraine, Russia is waging a hybrid war against the West and its aim is to destroy the European Union and NATO, says university professor Ihor Todorov.

Todorov, who lectures at the Department of International Studies and Public Communication at Uzhhorod National University, says the main goal of Russian propaganda remains to give Ukraine to Russia. But, he emphasizes, such a thing will be a disaster for the West.

In an interview with The Geopost, Todorov emphasizes the importance of Western assistance and the realization that Russia is not only an enemy to Ukraine.

Full interview:

The Geopost: Thank you very much for this interview for The Geopolitics in Pristina. Can you tell us about the situation in Ukraine?

Todorov: Unfortunately, the situation is not good. The large-scale war has been going on for two and a half years. As a former resident of Donetsk, I can say that the war has been going on for more than ten years, because my hometown of Donetsk was occupied back in 2014. In my opinion, the war is of an existential nature. For Russia, when they say «for Putin», it is incorrect, because for Russia, the existence of Ukraine is nonsense. «Ukraine cannot exist. Ukraine is a part of Russia that should only be part of the empire». And modern Russian politicians, military officers, they studied from (Aleksandr) Dugin’s (Russian political scientist and propagandist, ed) geopolitics textbook.

Back in 1996, it was written there that the existence of Ukraine is tantamount to the occupation of Russia. And, unfortunately, the Russians have succeeded in occupying my native Donetsk region. Today (2 October – ed.) there was information that Vuhledar was captured and the advance to Pokrovsk continues.

So, there are some optimistic statements by our politicians, both Ukrainian and Western politicians, that the war should end, that there will be some kind of peace talks. But unfortunately, negotiations about what? In Russia, the Constitution says that Donetsk region is part of Russia.

And they, at least now, will not agree to reject it. It’s good that we have an operation in the Kursk region (Russia, ed.). By the way, the Kursk region is my historical homeland.

My friend, colleague, dean of the faculty of Donetsk University, who works in Vinnytsia, said 20 years ago that this (Kursk region, ed.) is a Ukrainian territory temporarily occupied by Russia.

So, we are faced, I mean both Ukraine and the West, with the fact that Russia’s war is aimed at destroying Ukraine.

So, unfortunately, I’m not optimistic at the moment, because there are so many factors. And Ukraine, objectively speaking, is very dependent on Western assistance. And this assistance is there, but it is not sufficient.

And in my opinion, only the West’s realization that this is not only our war, but also their war, will be able to change the situation. But there is no such awareness.

For example, Russian propaganda, which operates very openly in Western countries, is aimed at making public opinion in these countries not in favor of Ukraine, against Ukraine: ‘let’s give Ukraine to Russia’. And theoretically, this is possible, but the West must realize that this will be a disaster for it as well.

Because Russia is waging a war, a hot war against Ukraine, but for many years it has also been waging a hybrid war against the West. And Russia’s goal is the destruction of the European Union, the destruction of NATO. And electoral preferences in European countries show that such actions are having some success.

For example, these are the latest elections in Austria, as well as the state elections in Germany, where the Alternative for Germany – AfD – won.

I’m not talking about Slovakia, I’m not talking about Hungary. I’ve been living in Zakarpattia, in Uzhhorod, for the last few years, and I know this situation well. There are no openly Russian channels in Hungary, they don’t even need to.

Their official media operate in the same context as Russian ones. And this is a European Union country, a NATO country. And it also has the Veto right to make decisions about Ukraine.

They did help actively from February or March 2022, but as former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has already admitted, NATO did not do what was necessary to prevent the war from starting.

That is, in theory, Ukraine could have been invited to join NATO in January 2022. And despite all the nonsense, the insanity of the Russian leadership, they are afraid to fight with NATO. Although their propaganda says: ‘We are at war with NATO, with America, and so on,’ but in reality, they are not.

They are afraid. And if Ukraine had guarantees, basic guarantees, Putin would not have carried out this aggression. But unfortunately, this is what goes on. And I don’t see any positive prospects in the foreseeable future.

The Geopost: Why not?

Todorov: Because the West is very slowly realizing the threats to itself. For them, for the majority, this war is somewhere in the East of Europe: ‘Yes, it’s good that Ukrainians are defending their interests, defending the borders of the European Union and NATO. But this is not our war’. ‘We will,’ as Joe Biden said, ’help as much as necessary’. Okay, but how much is needed? And for what purpose? Just last week, Biden said that it would be until Ukraine’s victory. That is the term ‘Victory of Ukraine’. But these are still just words and the internal situation in the US before the election.

We are asking to be able to shoot at Russian airfields, at Russian aircraft inside Russia. But we are told that this would be an escalation.

What kind of escalation do all need? Every day there are attacks on Ukrainian cities, every day civilians die, every day the military die – and these are the best Ukrainians. Do you understand? These are patriotic people who went to defend their country.

/The Geopost