Prof. Lingelbach: Concessions for Putin? 'Distasteful,' But Likely
March 15, 2022
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Quoted in The Week, David Lingelbach, associate professor in The University of Baltimore's Merrick School of Business, says Vladimir Putin's exit from the armed conflict in Ukraine may require concessions that Western leaders find "distasteful." But they may be the only way out.
Citing Prof. Lingelbach's work in The Hill on this topic, the publication noted his explanation that "offramps" may be necessary to convince the Russian leader to end the war.
These offers might include "a quiet retirement at his palace on the Black Sea," or "some ex officio status as 'father of the nation' or some such."
Lingelbach, who spent several years in the 1990s as president of Bank of America-Russia and is writing a book about oligarchs, has said that Putin is concerned chiefly with his self-interest. Regardless, "we must consider that he still remains very much in control of a nuclear-armed state."
Any alliance determined to end the war, Prof. Lingelbach says, must think of Putin as an oligarch first and foremost.
"Oligarchs like him are used to getting their way, and if we wish to avoid a violent and messy transition, we would do well to remember that," he says.
Read the article in The Week (login required).
Read Prof. Lingelbach's opinion piece on the war in The Hill.
Learn more about Prof. Lingelbach.
Read more commentary about the situation in Ukraine from UBalt leaders.