Anatol Lieven’s article on European rearmament contains much to agree with (The war in Ukraine holds two lessons: Russia isn’t an imminent threat, and Europe must rearm regardless, 23 February). However, his explanations of the tensions with Russia seem flawed in several respects. First, Nato expanded not because the US imposed it, but because the countries of eastern Europe demanded it. Too often the countries of eastern Europe, including Ukraine, are treated as if they are pawns in either the US’s or Russia’s game rather than sovereign states in their own right.
Second, the “establishment” figures who have assured us over the years that there is no intention of deliberately provoking a conflict with Nato are the same ones who were assuring us that there was no possibility of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine until the morning of 24 February. Unfortunately, these are not the people making Russian foreign policy. That is the prerogative of Putin and his inner sanctum, whose vision is steeped in Russian imperial history.
