Russian President Vladimir Putin © Mikhail Klimentyev © AFP
Politico: Putin’s choice: Hot war or a deeply frozen conflict
Rather than igniting new hostilities in Ukraine, the Russian president may see advantage in a never-ending standoff.
Top United States officials say they are worried Russia is aiming to heat things up in Ukraine, with troops positioned along the border for a potentially imminent invasion. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin may have precisely the opposite in mind: deepening the freeze of the conflict in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region as his best, and perhaps only, guarantee that Ukraine won’t join NATO.
At a meeting in Stockholm on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented utterly contradictory assessments of the situation in eastern Ukraine. Blinken insisted that the only risk of war was the threat of Russian military aggression. Lavrov said NATO’s eastward expansion was the threat.
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WNU Editor: The above Politico article is focused on what Putin wants in Ukraine, and what the U.S. wants to gain in this conflict. The article unfortunately ignores what Ukrainians and Russian-Ukrainians want in Ukraine, the history of the country, and how internal Ukrainian politics and nationalism are driving terrible policy decisions that has not only alienated the significant Russian-Ukrainian presence in Ukraine, but it has also prolong the war.
I have said it more than once in this blog. This conflict will only end when both sides in Ukraine reach a diplomatic agreement to coexist. Absent that, regardless of what Moscow and Washington want, there is never going to be peace.