Canada doing all it can in early days of Russia-Ukraine conflict: former defence minister

By Dani-Elle Dubé

Aside from imposing sanctions on Russia for its move to attack Ukraine, there’s not much else Canada can do at the moment — at least, not until the world sees how things are going to unfold.

That’s what David Pratt, former defence minister under Prime Minister Paul Martin, told The Sam Laprade Show on Friday, February 25.

“I think the sanctions really are the only tool we can apply at this point,” Pratt said. “The sanctions are going to have an impact, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. The extent to which they’re going to change Mr. Putin’s behaviour remains a moot point.”

Since it’s still in the early days of the conflict, Pratt said the only thing left for Canada to do is to convince others in the international community to get on board with imposing sanctions themselves. 

“I think the challenge for the West, for NATO [and] for the EU, and for other countries like Australia and Japan, it will be to convince other countries who haven’t bought into sanctions to do so, so that Russia becomes isolated within the international community,” he explained. “I think that’s absolutely critical that this type of behaviour not go unpunished. I think the world — to the extent that it’s possible — has to unite behind isolating Russia and making them pay for what is a war of aggression.”

Pratt went so far as to call the act a “war crime” and that Putin should be treated as a war criminal.

“I think it was very predictable in the first place,” he added. “I think a lot of people thought that Putin was posturing, trying to extract concessions from the West and using his troops and armoured columns to do that. I just did not trust him and it’s happened.”

What’s happened, Pratt said, is not only heartbreaking for the people of Ukraine but gut-wrenching for the West as well to see this type of conflict happen in Europe in the 21st century. 

“We all thought, going back to the end of the Cold War in the late 80s, that the world was embarking upon a new chapter of peace and stability, and Mr. Putin has turned that upside down, unfortunately, with his attempt at what is effectively a regime change in Ukraine. We’re in the very early stages of this, but I think the repercussions are going to be felt for many years to come.”

What’s clear to Pratt, though, is that Putin has “proven to be a liar with all of the world watching.”

“In many respects, he failed to prepare the Russian people for what’s transpiring in Ukraine right now,” he said. “We've seen demonstrations in Moscow, St. Petersburg…but remains to be seen whether or not the Russian people in the longer term are going to support a brutal war of aggression against people that they referred to — that Mr. Putin even referred to — as the brothers and sisters of Russia.”

Pratt says it is pretty clear as well that “Putin maintains an iron grip on his country.”

“Dislodging him from that position is not going to be easy for those people in Russia that are really appalled and find this entire episode almost unbelievable.”

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