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Russian aggression in Ukraine inexcusable but West ‘not uninvolved bystanders’: Singapore minister K. Shanmugam
- Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said Western powers are not ‘uninvolved bystanders who had no role to play’ for the situation in Ukraine
- Among the factors the minister raised was the West’s decision to expand Nato despite Russian security concerns
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While no background factor can excuse Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Western powers are not “uninvolved bystanders who had no role to play” in the situation that led to the ongoing conflict, a top Singapore minister has said.
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In a keynote address on the war’s implications for Southeast Asia, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam sought to underscore that the background of the conflict was far more complicated than had been portrayed by mainstream news.
Amid the complexities of the conflict, the minister said it was important “to look beyond the bluster, the headlines, and the ideologically-driven narratives to understand the facts”.
It [media] too conveniently absolves the West of any responsibility for the way events unfolded
Shanmugam, foreign minister from 2011 to 2015 – when Russia first annexed Crimea – crystallised the Western media’s view as one that painted Moscow and President Vladimir Putin as “the sole irresponsible actors, and the president’s own ambitions have led to all these sufferings”.
“A fair bit of this is accurate, in my view, but it doesn’t convey the whole picture,” Shanmugam said during a speech to close a two-day workshop on the war organised by Singapore’s ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute.
“It too conveniently absolves the West of any responsibility for the way events have unfolded,” he said, emphasising at the same time that “nothing in the background can excuse the violation of Ukraine or the war”.
Among the background factors the minister raised was the West’s position regarding a so-called “not one inch” stance whereby the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) would not expand to the east following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990.
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