The departure of Ukraine President Viktor
Yanukovych offers a big lesson for Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The
events in Ukraine prove that unpopular rulers can’t be protected for
long. After days of protests in Ukraine, Russian-backed Yanukovych has
been forced to flee the presidential palace in Kiev and no one knows
his whereabouts. After the removal of the Moscow-backed
government, Russia has stopped its aid package running into billions of
dollars to Ukraine and the country is facing a financial calamity.
Western countries should come forward and help Ukraine’s economy now.
Russia is following the same policy in the
Middle East and its support to the unpopular government of Bashar
al-Assad is a classic example of that. Russia refuses to see that the Assad regime
is responsible for the death of more than 140,000 people, displacement
of 9mn people and wanton destruction in Syria. The UN Security Council has consistently failed to act on the Syrian conflict because of the negative attitude taken by Russia. Will the Putin government learn from the
Ukraine crisis and reform its policy towards the Syrian civil war
accordingly? I hope Putin will listen to the voice of reason.
Khawaja Umer Farooq,
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