The American National Interest website published a long article by prominent Russian journalist Konstantin Remchukov, owner and editor-in-chief of the Russian newspaper, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, in which he highlighted Russian President Vladimir Putin's geopolitical vision of the world, his country's crisis with the West, and the causes of its war in Ukraine. During which he tried to answer many questions about current issues.

Remchukov - who is a reference in Russian politics - explained that the information and ideas contained in his article are not only based on analysis of texts and policies related to Putin, but also on his personal observations of the president's logic and motives for making decisions, according to the president's conversations about himself and his policies during his regular meetings with editors-in-chief Russian media.

He pointed out in this context that his last meeting with President Putin was in St. Petersburg at midnight on June 17, and it provided him with a real window into the president's mentality and goals.

Putin's main concerns

Remchukov says that Putin is convinced that the strategic interests of the Russian nation do not depend on who is currently in power, whether Tsar Nicholas II, Stalin, Gorbachev, Yeltsin or Putin, because the country's national interest is immutable, which is security.

And that the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to the east constitutes a clear security threat to Russia.

This issue has been present in Putin's mind for 15 years and in his conversations with his Western counterparts, but they ignored his discussions.

The writer also says that the rights of the Russian people have been violated with regard to respect for cultural and linguistic excellence.

He believes that Putin cannot accept the logic that says that protecting the rights of sexual minorities is a duty, but that protecting the rights of the Russian people is not.

This is the premise that formed Putin's moral position, according to the writer, which is based on the fact that "leaving your comrades (your people) in trouble is outrageous and a disgrace. It is an honor and a matter of pride to protect them at all costs."

Remchukov explains that Putin has previously expressed this position when he said that had it not been for NATO's ambition to include Ukraine in the list of its members, he would not have been worried about Crimea, let alone Donbass.

In this context, he referred to the normal relations that his country had with former pro-Western Ukrainian leaders, explaining that until that time the West had not yet begun the phase of transforming Ukraine into an anti-Russian settlement outpost.

The writer says that the most important factor that contributed to the destruction of trust between Russia and the West is the recklessness, injustice and betrayal on which the countries of the West unanimously agreed, and the most prominent manifestations of which were the unjustified sanctions resulting from baseless accusations of Russian collusion with former US President Donald Trump.

He points out in this regard that the Western media interpreted any contact of President Trump with the Russians as evidence of indictment, and propaganda replaced information, depriving the Russians of the right to consider them innocent until proven guilty.


His geopolitical view

The writer believes that the Russian president is convinced that his country, based on the size and specificity of the problems that characterize its relations with its neighboring countries - which number 14 - cannot, under any circumstances, delegate issues related to its sovereignty to external organizations and those in charge of them.

To put this in perspective, Estonia or Lithuania, for example, cannot influence Russian foreign policy decisions.

Putin also believes that Russia, like the United States and China, should have full sovereignty in all decisions related to it.

He believes that "sovereignty" is indivisible, and it is of greater value and importance to Putin than other values ​​such as "freedom" and "democracy."

The writer believes that all the decisions taken by the Russian leadership during the era of former President Boris Yeltsin and the beginning of the era of President Putin in recent years related to Russia's withdrawal from international obligations stem from this logic.

What does Putin want?

The writer highlights that Russian President Putin wants the West to recognize Russia's exclusive geopolitical interests, especially with regard to its security.

He insists on the right to remove NATO from Russia's borders.

Which means removing the alliance from the space of the former Soviet Union, as a minimum.

Putin believes that this right takes precedence over the right of neighboring countries to conclude agreements as they wish.

The writer believes that this position represents a return to some elements of the policy of limited sovereignty that marked the era of former Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev.

Remchukov goes on to say that Putin does not recognize the common and legally ambiguous concept of a "rules-based world order".

He says - and the conscience here belongs to Putin - that Russia does not understand these rules, has not participated in their setting and will not follow them.

He also believes that the Yalta Peace Agreement - which was signed in 1945 between the Soviet Union on the one hand and Britain and the United States on the other - has ended due to the permanent violations of international law and the Charter of the United Nations by Western countries.

He gives examples of this, including the bombing of Belgrade, Iraq, Libya and Kosovo.


Changing the world order

Remchukov says that Putin seeks to rearrange the new world order without resorting to global nuclear war.

He also wants the West to accept any domestic political methods in Russia on a non-discriminatory basis.

Putin also stresses his view that no universal model of state and political structures is mandatory for all countries.

He believes that policies in the West are determined in the corridors of power and the offices of large corporations, and Donald Trump's denial of the use of social media has exposed the falsehood of allegations about freedom of expression in the United States.

Referring to what happened in the United States during the presidential elections that carried President Joe Biden to power, the writer says that the use of technology in the elections to cast their votes by mail without adequate means of verifying the identity of the voters has stunned Putin, and that major technology companies, which rely on Unprecedented windfall profits and access to the electorate have become key factors in ensuring election victory.

At the conclusion of his article, the writer expects the conflict in Ukraine to continue for 4 or 5 years, and believes that everyone should prepare for this, as there are no foundations yet on which peace can be built, and there will be no popular protests in the streets of Russia for social and economic reasons in the fall of this year or in Next summer, change in Russia will come from the top, as always, according to him.