HOW TO STOP PUTIN By Edward Topol

Open Letter to President Donald Trump

Dear Mr. President,
Dear Donald,

As the author of dozens of articles in the Russian-language press in the U.S. and Israel, I urged readers to vote for you in both of your election campaigns. With fifty books and a dozen films about Russia to my name, I feel compelled to share critical insights before your meeting with Vladimir Putin. Putin cannot end the war in Ukraine, even if you offered him your Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump Tower, or a dozen of your golf clubs. It’s not that he doesn’t want a respite from the war—he simply can’t afford to stop. He knows Russian history all too well.

Consider these examples:

• The victory over Napoleon and the return of Russian troops from Europe sparked the anti-tsarist Decembrist uprising in 1825.

• Russia’s defeat in the Russo-Japanese War triggered the 1905 Revolution.

• The desertion of a million Russian soldiers from the Russian-German front during World War I led to Emperor Nicholas II’s abdication and the February Revolution of 1917.

• Lenin’s peace treaty with Germany enabled the Bolsheviks to execute the entire tsarist family.

• The return of Soviet troops from Afghanistan in February 1989 marked the beginning of the USSR’s collapse.

Given this history, Putin cannot end the war in Ukraine and bring his troops home. Stalin avoided a post-war coup only by keeping much of his army in Europe as occupation forces after defeating Germany in 1945. Putin dreams of occupying Ukraine and the Baltic States to keep his forces far from Moscow. He remembers how, after returning from Afghanistan, 525,000 Soviet soldiers became “Afghan” bandits who terrorized the USSR’s population. He knows what chaos would ensue if 1.5 million soldiers, trained in killing, looting, and worse, return from the Ukrainian front.

The war in Ukraine has allowed Putin to exile two million of his regime’s most vocal opponents, while sending young Russian men to the front or recruiting them into punitive services. For Putin and his junta, perpetual war—whether with Ukraine, the Baltic States, NATO, or anyone else—is now the only way to maintain control over Russia. Unfortunately, your advisors may not explain this before your meeting with Putin. I urge you to consult Jack Matlock or Michael McFaul to verify my arguments.

I don’t want Putin—a KGB agent, corrupt official, and murderer of millions—to continue deceiving my President. I am not a military expert or political scientist, but as a writer with a keen memory, I recall how Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II persuaded Arab nations to lower oil prices to $9 per barrel and supplied Afghan fighters with Stinger missiles. These actions halted Moscow’s takeover of Afghanistan and led to the USSR’s collapse.

To stop Putin and the imperial ambitions of much of Russia’s population, you must act similarly: drive oil prices down to at least $25 per barrel and provide Ukraine with the weapons needed to defeat the aggressor.

Sincerely,
Edward Topol

U.S. Citizen and Author of International Bestsellers Red Square, Submarine U-147, Red Snow, and the new books Criminal Kremlin: From Lenin to Putin: 57 Kremlin Murders and Operation Frantic Joe