Vladimir Putin doesn’t appear concerned over the new Western sanctions that might follow a renewed Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On the contrary, Putin’s regime is escalating its threats. Russia now says that unless the West agrees a legal commitment not to expand NATO, it will be forced into a “military response” that may include the deployment of intermediate range nuclear missiles (which Russia developed in breach of an arms control treaty) in Kaliningrad. That would put nuclear-capable missiles on the borders of Lithuania and Poland, and in strike range of every European NATO member state. Considering that an agreement not to expand NATO would utterly undermine the principle of democratic sovereignty — something the Biden administration celebrated with an international summit just last week — Russia has clearly seized the strategic initiative.