You're reading: Panetta: Ukraine can’t count on Western support against Russia without reform

Ukraine cannot count on Western diplomatic support for the country in negotiations with Russia if it fails to show commitment to reform, Leon Panetta, a former U.S. secretary of defense, CIA director and member of Congress told the Kyiv Post in an interview on Sept. 17.

“You don’t want to become just one of the chess pieces in a power game between Russia and the United States,” Panetta said. “And it’s for that reason that it’s really important for Ukraine to develop and strengthen its independence, to strengthen its economy, to deal with corruption and strengthen the government.”

“People would then get very nervous about whether Ukraine can protect itself,” Panetta added.

Panetta’s comments came after a panel discussion on how Ukraine, and the world, should counter an aggressive Russia. The panel was moderated by CNN host Fareed Zakaria. Much of the discussion turned on how the West could reconcile with Russia without sacrificing Ukrainian sovereignty.

“We cannot deal with Russia from weakness. If Russia senses weakness, they will take advantage of it,” Panetta said on the panel.

Afterwards, the former defense secretary from 2011-2013 said that the United States should give Ukraine anti-tank weapons to fight Russian-separatist forces in the east.

“We need to send additional signals that indicate that Ukraine is not only going to have a stronger military, but have the defensive capability to counter the kind of weapons systems that Russia has given the separatists,” Panetta said.

The former CIA chief noted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s KGB background as well, saying it fed a sense of paranoia.

“Clearly, countries in the international arena are going to jockey with regards to the positions that have to be taken in order for them to be able to sit down and negotiate,” Panetta said. “But I think right now my concern is that Putin senses weakness and is therefore trying to take advantage of that weakness.”

Panetta served during U.S. President Barack Obama’s failed “reset” of relations with Russia, in which the United States attempted to forge stronger relations with the country under then-President Dmitry Medvedev.

Panetta said that while the U.S. was trying to “develop common policy” with Russia under a perception that Medvedev would be more open to the West, the United States continued to deal with Putin throughout the reset. During a 2010 incident in which a team of Russian spies were found to be living in the United States, Panetta said that a subsequent prisoner swap was only possible due to ‘clearance’ from Putin.

But when asked if the U.S. was caught off guard by Russia’s annexation of Crimea and instigation of war in eastern Ukraine, Panetta maintained that the government was aware that it “had to be cautious in dealings with Russia.”

Panetta added: “What I don’t think we had a good handle on was whether Putin would suddenly move away from all the steps we had taken during perestroika and begin to back away from that kind of relationship.”

Since then, the former defense secretary said, the United States needs to reorient itself and strengthen NATO to make clear that it would and could “enforce Article 5” regarding all of its members, including the Baltic states.

Panetta said that in the lead-up to Baltic NATO accession, there were discussions in Washington, D.C., to integrate Russia into NATO as well. “Russia should have, as a part of Europe, been a part of NATO as well,” he said.

Besides doubts over whether NATO can defend the Baltics, some questions have been raised over whether the alliance faces internal problems as well. The presidents of both Hungary and Poland have both drawn criticism from other NATO allies for alleged authoritarian tendencies, with some suggesting that both leaders are more similar to Putin than to other Western liberals.

But Panetta dismissed such concerns.

“Having been very involved in both defense and intelligence issues in both countries, I still think that deep down, their bigger concern is dealing with Russia, as opposed to dealing with Europe and the United states,” he said. “When push comes to shove, those countries will align with the West, and not the East.”

As to another threat posed by recent statements made by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has suggested that the United States would not honor its treaty commitment to defend the Baltics in case of a Russian attack, Panetta expressed “concern.”

“I don’t believe that Trump would be able to accomplish the things he’s talking about because of the checks and balances in the U.S. system,” Panetta said. “My concern is that there would be a period of real instability if he were to be elected where the rest of the world would wonder just exactly what he would do or not do.”