Steven Pifer: We must Make Russia Change its Behavior

The Western countries have to find a way to make Russia cease violating the international rules. Steven Pifer, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution (U.S.), stated this during the 11th Kyiv Security Forum in Kyiv organized by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation Open Ukraine.

"We need to find a way to change the behavior of Russia. There might be a possibility to improve relations with Russia, but this requires a change in its attitude to the rules. And this is the question that the countries of the West are facing: how we can get Russia use a different approach", he said.

According to Mr.Pifer, the issue may also involve the consequences of violations of the rules by Russia.

"One of the reasons why the Kremlin violates the rules is that the price of these violations is small", he believes.

S. Pifer suggests concentrating efforts on three main areas: spreading the information about corruption of Putin’s cronies among Russians, imposing personal sanctions on oligarchs close to the Russian authorities, and also imposing sectoral sanctions against Russia.

At the same time, he believes it is also important to convey to the leadership of Russia the message that sanctions are not aimed at changing the authorities, but only to make the country comply with the rules.

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The annual international event Kyiv Security Forum was launched by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation Open Ukraine in 2007 as a platform for high-level discussions on the current issues in Europe and the Black Sea region. The Forum aims at increasing security cooperation between the EU and the Black Sea region, raising awareness about regional developments among key regional players, promoting the role of independent and non-governmental actors in setting the security agenda in Europe.

The event is being held with the support of NATO Information and Documentation Center in Ukraine, the German Marshall Fund, The Victor Pinchuk Foundation, The Royal Institute of International Relations, Chatham House (UK), and The Regional Representative Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Ukraine.