freezing russian assets in the european union and blocking banks from accessing your s financial market. the question is, can any of this influence putin s intentions? history suggests this will be difficult. he appears not to be afraid of sanctions or worried about them. sanctions that we have applied in the past have always slipped, over time. we know that people were sanctioned and then they got fake passports and they got around it. the west will be acutely aware that sanctions have not prevented a moment that the european union describes in these terms. these are among the darkest hours for europe since the end of world war ii. a major nuclear power has attacked a neighbour country. and as we listen to that, think back to what president biden said on tuesday. we have no intention of fighting russia. without fighting, though, you are left with sanctions. but putin s authority rests on a corrupt system of wealth and power that was 30 years in the making.
coup attempt by the kgb, boris yeltsin emerged as the man who would be king s mantle the old soviet system and introduce much greater democracy. yeldon s eventual successor was an ex kgb officer, latimer putin. he always insisted he did not want to revive the old soviet union, and he seemed to fit in well with the diplomatic niceties of a world that was now dominated by the united states vladimir putin. it all the time he was quietly rebuilding russia s armed forces, which had fallen into decay. putin was on a mission to make russia a superpower again. western leaders, though, just saw him as someone they could do business with. the problem could do business with. the problem is could do business with. the problem is that could do business with. tue: problem is that they could do business with. tte: problem is that they approach russia with optimism and thinking that russia can be engaged like a western liberal democracy, not realising just how rapidly russia is retreating bac