To make peace, make well the wounded Russian soul

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As a person with a not-too-ordinary course of life (born just after World War II, grew up in the east of Germany occupied by the Russians, secured a professorship in Hannover in 1991, accepted an endowed chair at the University of Minnesota in 1996, and now is back to a reunited Germany), I have something of a special understanding of the "Russian soul."

From this point of view, I want to suggest that we in the West should think twice about whether our approach to combating the evil of Russia's aggression in Ukraine has a chance of being successful.

Since the beginning of Russia's aggression, the West has been united behind the goal of defending the Western values of democracy by supporting Ukraine. No reasonable Western politician has any doubt about this goal.

The Ukrainians' defeating Russia (supported by Western sanctions against Russia and with Western weapons) is seen as the only way to prevent the further expansion of Russia into former satellite states of the Soviet Union, since all attempts to end the war through diplomacy have failed so far.

Have the enormous death toll on of both sides, the mass destruction of homes and infrastructure in Ukraine, and the forced escape of hundreds of thousands out of Ukraine into Western countries led to any single sign that the West's goal will be achieved by the means the West has applied so far?

The answer is no. To understand what the West might do differently to reach its goal, it is necessary to try to understand the deeper motives of the Russian war in Ukraine.

Russia is not waging this war to defeat Ukrainian fascism or to add more territory to the vast Russian land mass. It is to overcome the deep humiliation that the Russian soul has felt since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the expansion of NATO toward the East. Russia feels treated by the West like a developing country.

These heartfelt humiliations experienced by a nation that was once one of the big players in the global political world is the reason why it is not (as many politicians love to claim) only "Putin's war." More than 80% of the Russian people are standing firmly behind Putin since his promise to "make Russia great again" makes this war a real war of the Russians against Ukraine (meaning the West).

The best recipe for prolonging the war is the public resolve to weaken Russian influence in the world (Russia, which defeated Napoleon and defeated Hitler) particularly through well-intended sanctions, and the announced intention to bring Putin before the international court for war crimes. The senseless killing and destruction will go on without approaching the Western goal.

Diplomatic attempts have failed because the offers to Russia for ending the war have not addressed the real trauma of the Russian soul.

Imagine instead that we offered Russia for ending the war membership in G-7 (then G-8), Western support for Russia in its attempts to rebuild the Ukrainian infrastructure, and Western support for an economic transition of Russia from a major exporter of raw materials and energy toward a modernized value-added economy.

If Russia decided to become an emancipated nation on eye level with the most developed countries, it might even become eligible to become a member of NATO itself.

Offered this, the Russian people, especially the younger generation, would buy this concept. They would no longer support self-proclaimed saviors of the wounded Russian soul, but would demand democratic development that neither fears nor hates Western values.

Did not the West after World War II do the same with the defeated and wounded western part of Germany through the Marshall Plan? Did it not make the former enemy a valued member of the Western community? And was this not a success story?

Thomas Blaha is professor emeritus of epidemiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Germany, and the University of Minnesota.