Putin’s fears of a unified, stronger Europe are fast becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy

WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brazen and unprovoked assault on Ukraine is fast turning his fears of a more resolute Europe, and potentially expanded NATO alliance, into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

NATO has come together behind stiff economic sanctions against Moscow. Finland and Sweden, after decades of neutrality, have signaled a new interest in joining the alliance while more autocratic members of the defense pact have excoriated Moscow.

And in an effort to shore up Ukraine’s defenses, the European Union for the first time will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday.

In short order, Europe’s leading powers have shifted into a position of heightened defensiveness toward Russia.

“We have to realize that we are now faced with a new normal for our security,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday in an interview on CNN, noting