Washington — American foreign policy should seek more aggressively to divide the honorable Russian people from Vladimir Putin, weakening him and increasing the chances of his ouster.
We in the West should embrace and assist the many Russians who have left their country over the war with Ukraine. Among those fleeing are Russians of many talents and accomplishments who want to help shape a future, non-autocratic government for their homeland, including talented cyber professionals who know how to penetrate Putin's blackout of honest news reporting within Russia.
It is counterproductive for the West to react to Putin's atrocities by banning all things Russian, which provides the dictator with talking points that the West is out to destroy Russia. On the contrary, embracing Russians who represent the best of their culture and civilization is essential to ending Putinism.
But how? One way is to replace the current Russian government in organizations such as the OSCE with alternate national representation. Another is to enlist international institutes and organizations to hold conferences at which exiled Russians would be given prominence. The West could use the opportunities to re-assess its relationship with Russia, providing visions of a post-Putin world that would broadly appeal to Russians now living in an ostracized and collapsing autocracy.
The West must do more than condemn war crimes and supply weapons for Ukraine's defense. It must work quickly and purposefully with Russians fleeing their country to end the Putin regime.
