Russia’s confrontation with the West will continue even after the fighting in Ukraine ends. The Kremlin’s ambitions extend far beyond Ukraine, and European countries have yet to fully recognise the scale of the threat they face.
In a conversation with investigative journalist Heidi Siegmund Cuda for Bette Dangerous, Olena Davlikanova, Senior Fellow at Sahaidachnyi Security Center, discusses Russia’s wider war against democratic societies, the dangers of underestimating Moscow, and why the outcome of the war in Ukraine matters for the entire democratic world.
Olena Davlikanova argues that Russia’s aggression is part of a broader confrontation between authoritarian and democratic regimes. She points out that Russia is supported by other authoritarian regimes, including China, North Korea and Iran. Meanwhile, Ukraine has given Europe valuable time to strengthen its defences, yet many Western governments have been slow to recognise the threat, partly because economic ties with Russia made it convenient to disregard warnings.
Ukraine’s understanding of Russian aggression is informed by generations of experience with Soviet repression and Russia’s more recent crimes. Olena Davlikanova recalls how the atrocities uncovered in Bucha and other liberated areas in 2022 confirmed fears that Ukrainians had expressed long before the full-scale invasion.
The conversation also examines Russia’s information warfare, which is becoming increasingly sophisticated through artificial intelligence and personalised algorithms. Davlikanova emphasizes that democratic societies need a stronger understanding of the freedoms they risk losing, particularly as political polarisation and populism challenge European unity.
“This war is existential for the democratic world,” Davlikanova stresses.
Its outcome will show whether democracies can defend their interests collectively or whether authoritarian powers can increasingly impose their own spheres of influence.
Read the full article in Bette Dangerous, which also features a selection of Davlikanova’s recommended research on Russia’s aggression, including Sahaidachnyi Security Center’s Everywhere War Tracker.