Impose tougher economic sanctions against Putin now

IT IS hard to imagine the terror felt by Ukrainians as they woke in the small hours of Thursday morning to the sound of shelling and the rumble of Russian tanks rolling into their country.

The images of the invasion of the sovereign territory of a peaceful, democratic, modern European country sent shockwaves across the world.

Despite recent sabre-rattling by Russian president Vladimir Putin and the massive build-up of his troops along the border with Ukraine, the attack somehow seemed – and still seems – like an unreal nightmare, a scene torn from the history books, and one we all hoped – believed – had been relegated to the past.

However, anyone with a modicum of understanding of history would know that those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it.

In this instance, there has long been a lack of desire to confront Putin and his actions, from the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury in England, to the Kremlin’s support for the puppet government in Belarus after the rigged election, to interference in the election of Donald Trump as US president in 2016, to the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

In 2006, he ordered the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, again by poisoning. And Russian links to the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko during the controversial 2004 Ukrainian presidential election – which led to the so-called ‘Orange Revolution’ setting Ukraine on the pro-Western trajectory that has so enraged Putin – have never been adequately explained.

We cannot feign surprise that, left unchecked, Putin has been emboldened to bring the world to the brink of another global war. The sanctions that have been announced so far will not unduly concern this despot, who will have already factored in the cost to himself, his favourite oligarchs, and his country.

His desire to reshape Russia’s sphere of influence in his image, a vainglorious attempt to rebuild a Soviet Union – or Tsarist Russia – which its subservient countries could not wait to be freed from, highlights the failure of global politicians to fix a boundary to the march of his illegitimate ambitions.

That failure can be seen still in the response to the egregious breach of international law and basic morality perpetrated by Putin this week.

Pre-invasion, the West promised terrifying consequences. In the days after, it is unlikely the Russian leader has lost too much sleep over the announced sanctions.

If you play poker with a psychopath, you’d better be holding some cards.

Instead as usual, the consequences are being most keenly felt by ordinary citizens.

Many of us know Ukrainians who have settled in this country, and who now look on in fear and hopelessness as their families face the onslaught of a 200,000strong invading army.

There will, of course, be a practical effect on our own lives, including an almost certain increase in the already spiralling cost of living.

But we must impose much tougher sanctions, even if that causes economic ripples to be felt around the globe.

Because the economic effect on us pales into insignificance against the tales of heroism and bravery of the Ukrainian people.

We cannot put a price on denying Vladimir Putin the ultimate conclusion of his warped fever dream.

If he gets away with this, who knows what will come next?