First of all, I think we all believe in a people's and a nation's right to self-determination. That underlies why that whole premise of spheres of influence is fundamentally flawed.
Putin's endgame is to restore something like the old Soviet Union. At the end of the day, it's spheres of influence. He has stated very publicly that one of the biggest tragedies in history was the fall of the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, it's not just Vladimir Putin. It's also the Russian people who have trouble recognizing the Ukrainian nation as its own nation. The whole concept of one big Slavic people is something that is very much front and centre for Putin and Russians. I think Putin's endgame is to restore, more or less, a model of the Soviet Union where he can control, either directly or indirectly, those countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union. He's doing that by destabilizing them.
When you look at the trends, he's been successful in destabilizing the regions around Azerbaijan and Armenia with the frozen conflict there. He's been able to destabilize the Transnistria region with a frozen conflict there. He's done it in Ossetia in Georgia, and he's now doing it in eastern Ukraine.
He has recognized that by destabilizing, he's able to exert control over those countries. He's also starting to destabilize the international rules-based order. We're seeing that in terms of supporting various right-wing initiatives in Europe. We have to be cognizant that by breaking down the rules-based international order, Putin is able to exert control over the world, quite frankly.