US News and World Report cites the Atlantic Council for hosting Sven Misker, the Estonian minister of defense, at its two-day conference “Towards a Europe Whole and Free:”
Russia’s incursion into Caucasus six years ago proved Putin’s “expansionist, imperialist” strategy could work, says Sven Misker, the Estonian minister of defence. The Russian president orchestrated the seizure of Georgian territory with military force, and then sashayed the international conversation to one of de-escalation and peace, leaving the legitimacy of his new lands a fait accompli.
“It’s sort of a ‘We told you so’ moment,” Misker said Wednesday afternoon, while speaking on a panel at the Atlantic Council. “Georgia should have been the wakeup call. We decided to push the snooze button and go back to sleep. We shouldn’t let anything like this happen this time with regards to Ukraine. Not because Ukraine is any larger or more important — no country is less important than any other country — but because now we see a pattern.”