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In 2022 European democracies welcomed more refugees in one year than any other continent in recent decades. This has one principal cause: the Russian attack on Ukraine in February. Until Ukraine can win its war, European states need to be ready to help those who seek safety. Next to the challenge of handling potentially many more Ukrainian refugees, the issues of supporting devastated refugee host communities in Turkey must today be at the top of the European political agenda.

Putin hopes to divide European societies. His instrument is terror against Ukrainian civilians. A Europe-wide campaign that shows that civil societies, backed by governments, are prepared to host more Ukrainian refugees is a powerful signal to Russia that its horrific blackmail will fail.

All Western Balkan states are stuck. Their accession process resembles a bus without wheels, with North Macedonia discussing conditions for moving up a row of seats inside a vehicle going nowhere. It is time for the EU to acknowledge this reality and take action. This dysfunctional process and the Bulgarian veto are the two elephants in Skopje everyone knows about, but that no one wants to discuss openly.

It is striking how differently Russia and Kosovo have been treated by the governments of Council of Europe member states in recent years. For many years, Kosovo governments have been actively discouraged from applying for Council of Europe membership by other members. The result: Kosovo remains outside.

Putin’s cynical goal of blackmailing Ukraine and the EU through brutal warfare leading to mass displacement must fail and must be seen to fail. An Airlift 2022, the most generous refugee reception policy worldwide in decades, would be an appropriate response. It would be a humane response to inhumane cynicism.

The Council of Europe must not harbour a dictatorship that is invading a neighbouring state, committing massive war-crimes, while suppressing the human rights of its own citizens to hide its aggressive war from its public. Member states of the Council of Europe must move to expel Russia from their organisation.

Russian president Vladimir Putin declared war on the principles enshrined in core treaties on which European stability is based: the Statute of the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights. If they are to remain credible, the member states of the Council of Europe must react and suspend Russia for violating its most solemn commitments.