Putin also said that NATO’s shipment of sophisticated weapons, such as missile systems, to Ukraine is crossing a “red line” for Russia amid Moscow’s concerns about the NATO-sponsored increase in Ukrainian military power.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in November that weapons and military advisers were already being supplied to Ukraine by the United States and other NATO member states. “And all of this, of course, leads to a future worsening of the situation at the border,” he said.
If the US and its allies do not change course in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Moscow has the “right to choose ways to ensure its legitimate security interests”.
What is the Ukrainian view?
The Ukrainian government insists that Moscow cannot prevent Kiev from building closer ties with NATO if it chooses.
“Russia cannot prevent Ukraine from coming closer to NATO, and it has no right to have a voice in relevant discussions,” the foreign minister said in a statement to CNN, in response to Russian requests that NATO halt its eastward advance.
“Any Russian proposals to discuss with NATO or the US the so-called assurances that the Alliance would not expand eastward are illegitimate,” he added.
Ukraine insists Russia is seeking to destabilize the country, with President Volodymyr Zelensky recently saying a coup plot involving Russians and Ukrainians has been uncovered.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned that a coup could be part of the Russian plan before a military invasion. “External military pressure goes hand in hand with the country’s domestic destabilization,” he said.
Tensions between the two countries have been exacerbated by the worsening energy crisis in Ukraine, which Kiev believes was deliberately caused by Moscow.
At the same time, Zelensky’s government faces challenges on many fronts. The government’s popularity has stagnated amid several domestic policy controversies, including a third wave of Covid-19 infections in recent weeks and an unbalanced economy.
Many people are also dissatisfied with the fact that the government has not delivered promised benefits and has not ended the conflict in the east of the country. Anti-government protests took place in Kiev.
What does NATO say?
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said “Russia will have a high price to pay” if it again invades Ukraine, a NATO partner.
“We have a wide range of options: economic sanctions, financial sanctions, political restrictions,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with CNN on December 1st.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, NATO increased its defenses “with combat-ready battle groups in the eastern part of the Alliance, in the Baltic countries, in Latvia…but also in the Black Sea region,” said Stoltenberg.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO and therefore does not have the same security guarantees as its members. But Stoltenberg left open the possibility of Ukraine becoming a member of the Organization, saying that Russia has no right to tell Ukraine that it cannot seek membership.
What does the United States say?
President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a phone call in January 2022, that the US and its allies “will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.”
The two spoke just days after Biden urged Putin to ease the border crisis, and before Russian and American officials meet in person in Geneva later this month. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also warned Russia that “any aggression could have serious consequences.”
The US delivered about $450 million in security assistance to Ukraine in 2021, the Pentagon said, including a package of small arms and ammunition in December.
The Biden government has also considered sending military advisers and new equipment, including more substantial weaponry, to Ukraine to prepare for a possible invasion, sources familiar with the deliberations told the CNN in November.
The Obama administration was taken by surprise when Russia invaded Crimea in 2014 and supported an insurgency in the Donbas region. American officials say they are determined not to be appalled by another Russian military operation.
“Our concern is that Russia could make a serious mistake in trying to remake what it undertook in 2014 when it gathered forces along the border, crossed into sovereign Ukrainian territory and did so by falsely claiming that it was provoked,” Blinken said in November.
What other factors are at play?
Another big issue revolves around energy supply. Ukraine views the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline – connecting Russia’s gas supplies directly to Germany – as a threat to its own security.
Nord Stream 2 is one of two pipelines Russia has installed underwater in the Baltic Sea, in addition to its traditional network of onshore pipelines that traverses Eastern Europe, including Ukraine.
Kiev sees pipelines across Ukraine as an element of protection against an invasion of Russia, as any military action could interrupt the vital flow of gas to Europe.
US analysts and lawmakers have raised concerns that Nord Stream 2 will increase Europe’s dependence on Russian gas and could allow Moscow to selectively target countries like Ukraine with power cuts without further disruption to European supplies. Bypassing Eastern European countries also means that these nations would be deprived of the lucrative transit fees that Russia would otherwise pay.
In May 2021, the Biden administration waived sanctions against the company behind Nord Stream 2, giving it the green light. US officials say the move is in the interests of US national security as it seeks to rebuild strained relations with Germany.
In November, the US imposed new sanctions on an entity linked to Russia and a ship linked to Nord Stream 2.
Some US senators called for more sanctions to be imposed to prevent Russia from using the pipeline as a weapon; Ukraine also called for tougher measures.
Reference: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
