West sleepwalking into Syria-like disaster

It has been said over and over again: the war crimes, or - to take the view of US President Biden - crimes against humanity or genocide committed by the Russian regime in Ukraine, resemble those perpetrated in Syria since 2015 and in Chechnya in 1999-2000.

Be it in Mariupol, Bucha, Kramatorsk or Borodianka, each day brings its share of macabre revelations.

Western leaders have been quick to express their shock. However, this emotional display should itself unsettle us when the international community has spent years looking away from the Russian regime's crimes.

The Russian army's history in Syria and Chechnya, as well as Putin's declarations on his intentions in Ukraine, meant the Ukrainians' fate was predictable.

And new crimes will be committed soon should we fail to do all that is in our power to stop them: the major offensives in the Donbas is nothing but a confirmation of Putin's will of destruction.

Russia's war of extermination in Syria goes on in Ukraine.

As in Syria, hospitals are being deliberately targeted, civilians murdered and no one knows whether the Russian regime might resort to deploying chemical weapons the next day, in the same way it had authorized the Syrian president, Bashar Al-Assad, to do so.

In Syria, Russian forces alone have killed more Syrian civilians than Isis including countless children.

Like in Syria, the Kremlin is pushing propaganda about Ukraine that is not even meant to be credible anymore. The purpose is to sow doubt.

In the case of the bombing of the Mariupol pediatric hospital, it has not hesitated to put forward three contradictory takes: firstly, accusing the Ukrainians, secondly, claiming the images were fake, and finally, recognizing that Russian forces had destroyed it, but did so because the hospital served as a shelter for a nationalist battalion.

The regime's propagandists abroad worked to amplify Putin's claim that in

Ukraine, Russia would primarily be dealing with "neo-Nazis," endlessly hammering in the example of the Azov battalion.

They had done the same thing for Syria when they mirrored the Kremlin's assertions that jihadists hid in schools and hospitals. By using terms such as "Nazis" or "terrorists," they are in fact designating civilians, as though they were people who do not have the right to life.

The comparison doesn't stop there. The Ukrainian conflict most tragically recalls the Syrian one in the West's failure to take action that could radically change the situation. In other words, save Ukraine and ensure that Russia loses - completely.

Granted, the West is supplying Ukraine with defensive and now even offensive arms and heavy sanctions have been adopted against the Russian regime. A broader awareness of its reality has emerged: after some hesitation, war crimes have now finally been named as such.

Europeans have also welcomed Ukrainian refugees.

But this progress makes our shortcomings even more damning. No one can be sure today the fate of Ukraine in a few months or years will not warrant new points of comparison with Syria: just as Assad continues to rule over Syria and launch murderous attacks on the Idlib region, parts of Ukraine could well remain at war and occupied.

Military aid, sparingly granted at the beginning, has recently made significant progress. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's visit to Kiev on April 24 has paved the way for a dramatic increase in Washington's military aid to Ukraine.

Recognizing Russia's invasion as a "turning point" that threatened the entire postWorld War II order, even Germany broke its longstanding practice of not transferring lethal weapons it controlled to a conflict zone.

While this certainly allows Kiev to better retaliate against Putin's army, the pace is still not sustained enough. Indeed, the weapons provided to Ukraine may not be sufficient for them to expel Russian troops in the weeks and months to come.

They are both not numerous enough and sometimes not the most efficient ones. For example, the anti-aircraft Gepard tanks supplied by Germany were developed in the 1960s and are another sign of the poor state of the Bundeswehr.

While sanctions are increasing, they're still insufficient, and it is difficult to comprehend why the West failed to unleash them in their full force from the onset.

This would mean: an absolute embargo on Russian gas and oil, in conformity with MEPs' wish; the disconnection of all Russian banks, notably Sberbank and Alpha Bank, from the SWIFT interbank payment system, along with an asset freeze and travel ban on a greater number of Russian personalities close to power - the figure of 6,000 has been often mentioned.

These measures should have been taken long before the war, and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline should have been abandoned.

While the war crimes have indeed been named, some still shy away from designating their main perpetrator as a war criminal. We know the fallacious reason: such a public assignment would represent a "provocation" that would make him less inclined to compromise.

As if, given the immensity of his crimes, this should change anything about his future behavior.

“Indeed, the weapons provided to Ukraine may not be sufficient for them to expel Russian troops in the weeks and months to come. They are both not numerous enough and sometimes not the most efficient ones. For example, the anti-aircraft Gepard tanks supplied by Germany were developed in the 1960s and are another sign of the poor state of the Bundeswehr. While sanctions are increasing, they're still insufficient, and it is difficult to comprehend why the West failed to unleash them in their full force from the onset.”