Diplomacy in conflict resolution only works if strong army in place - expert

That’s according to a Ukraine-based political scientist Oleh Sahakian who spoke at a panel show on Dom TV, Ukrinform reports.

At the same time, the expert noted the right to self-defense of any citizen or state, enshrined in the UN Charter, as inviolable in international law.

"Therefore, Ukraine has a full legal right to defend itself from Russian aggression in any way. And this readiness, both moral, legal, military, and coercive, is a strong argument for diplomacy. Diplomacy with a weak army is impossible. Diplomacy only works if you have a strong army that is able to turn on the volume of war if diplomats fail. And so far there is space and opportunities to at least make sure the war doesn’t move into a hotter phase," said the expert.

According to Sahakian, the international community should make every effort to deter Russian aggression.

"On a separate note, it would be extremely infantile to hope for a diplomatic settlement of the conflict through diplomacy without a good will on the part of Russia. That is why the main stance of the world community and Ukraine today is to raise the cost for Russia is the latter potentially goes for escalation.  If Russia decides to move to more pro-active physical aggression, paying a price for such a move must be painful for them," said the political expert.

Pressure must be maintained on Russia to make them abandon their geopolitical ambitions as regards Ukraine. However, it is important to take into account specific priorities of Ukraine’s international partners.

"We can discuss how effective this is, how effectively the West and the world are ready to respond. Unfortunately, the world is a cynical place as there are plenty of different problems across the globe, and Russia's influence is significant enough, while Russia's threat to the West is small enough for these actions to be as proactive and adequate as we would like," Sahakian said.

As reported earlier, the risks of continued Russian aggression against Ukraine persist, as the grouping of Russian troops near Ukraine’s borders has been increasing since conflict-start.

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