Both political and business leaders are to blame for this inaction. The Kremlin employs a large army of lobbyists, PR spin doctors and apologists to make their case – including such reprehensible figures as former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who is on the payroll of Russia’s state-owned Gazprom. German businesses are also waging a fierce campaign against sanctions.

Some American executives have ignored U.S. President Barack Obama’s request to boycott this month’s international economic forum in St. Petersburg, Russia.
But this is where politicians need to tell businesses that national and world interests in peace and international law trump their interests.

Putin invaded Crimea and lied about it. Now he’s doing the same in eastern Ukraine, with advanced weaponry and armed men in masks who behave a lot like trained soldiers. The invasion is under way also with financing by Moscow through state-owned banks. Intercepted phone calls show coordination of the mayhem from Moscow.

Kremlin-backed separatists are killing, torturing, kidnapping and beating citizens. Schools are closed, banks are robbed and government buildings are seized. Ukrainian special forces report that Sloviansk has 1,500 armed separatists alone. More are on their way, Vitaliy Churkin, Russia’s United Nations ambassador on May 7 tweeted: “I’m not ruling out that soon more ‘volunteers’ will go to Ukraine…”

The right policy is to isolate and impose Iran-style sanctions on Putin’s regime and to reduce dependence on Russia’s energy supplies, the source of its financial strength. EU and American economies may suffer a little, but this is the price of liberty.

Putin does resemble Adolf Hitler in his lying, his promotion of Russian superiority and separateness, his incitement of hatred against his enemies, his flouting of international law and his repeal of basic human rights at home.

The former Soviet KGB officer sees the West’s tepid response as his green light for dismembering Ukraine. Tactically, he backs off on occasion – as he did on May 7 when he called on the separatists in Ukraine to postpone a May 11 referendum on secession that contravenes Ukraine’s constitution. But his aims have not changed and so the West should not back off.

Tough sanctions on Russia should have been in place on the day of the Crimean invasion in February, if not in 2008, when Putin dismembered the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Putin is not only bullying Ukraine, but the Baltic nations of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia as well. There are signs that Russia is using “specially trained, professional provocateurs” in Latvia to stir up trouble among the large ethnic Russian minority there, according to Latvian Defense Minister Raimonds Vejonis.

Putin only backs down when strength and force are shown. The West’s impotence and Ukraine’s military weakness inspire more Russian aggression. The time is now to curtail trade and other ties with Russia to the extent possible.