My next question is for Mr. Aslund.
I want to talk about this bargaining power. For the past 25 years, a lot of these states, their politicians, and the civic institutions—civic society—have been bargaining between and pitting the west or Europe versus Russia: which country should they be more aligned with and who can give them the better deal? It's a very broad concept. We've seen that Moldova and Bulgaria have elected pro-Russian governments that are more interested now in seeing their future align with Russia, more so than with Europe, or with the United States, or with Canada, for that matter.
We've talked about this fear of states falling into the orbit of Russia. Does that mean inevitably that we have to continue being subject to this bargaining of politicians for domestic reasons, for their own local politics, or is there a way out of it for countries such as Canada?
I should also state that Canada is not a peer to Russia, and I know that previous witnesses who've appeared before this committee seemed to indicate that Canada is almost like a peer country. Economically speaking, we're far more successful than they are, but militarily and in terms of influence, far less. What is it that Canada can do in order to not be used, to not be abused with this bargaining chip, so that our money, our time, our effort, and our diplomatic resources will not be used for those domestic political purposes?