The threat of Putin to the stability of Europe's borders is a very real one, writes Fox [AP]

Liam Fox is a former UK secretary of state for defence and member of parliament for North Somerset.

It is unsurprising that events in Syria and Iraq have dominated western foreign policy interest and activity in recent months. The civil war, coupled with the failure and incompetence of the Nouri al-Maliki government in Iraq, which led to increased resentment and tensions in the region, are a tragedy of international proportions. In our media, we are repeatedly exposed to the latest barbaric and medieval atrocities of ISIL, leading to justifiable public and political outrage.

This is, of course, exactly what their communication strategy was intended to achieve. Yet, while all of this has been occurring, another international threat has increasingly loomed on the horizon, one which is much more potentially dangerous for those members of NATO.

The Russian annexation of Crimea, by force, has brought the prospect of military confrontation in continental Europe closer than at any time since the end of the Cold War. The continued involvement of Russian troops in Eastern Ukraine adds to growing tension in the region and should act as a wake-up call to even the most craven of Russian President Vladimir Putin's apologists in the West.

Ukraine fighting rages despite efforts to revive truce

The current crisis in Ukraine is not a unique situation, but part of a continuum that has been evolving in recent years. Behind the actions of Russia lie attitudes to the accepted norms of international law and behaviour to which Putin adheres.

Cold War doctrines

The first of these is that Putin still clings to Cold War doctrines which puts him on a collision course with the free world. In particular, the insistence on the concept of a "near abroad", in other words, a veto on the foreign and security policies of its immediate geographic neighbours, is a remnant of a bygone era. Or, at least, it should be.

Many of the former Soviet satellite states, such as Poland or those in the Baltic, gravitated towards the West precisely because they believed that sovereign nations should be able to exercise self-determination. It is this concept which Russia rejects and is his excuse for his actions in Ukraine. Ukraine considered a closer political and economic relationship with the EU, something Putin objected to and so he simply took control of Crimea, part of Ukrainian sovereign territory.

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Why NATO must watch its back door - Al Jazeera English