Yesterday, the head of the Ukrainian delegation at the talks with Russia, David Arakhamia, in an interview with Voice of America* said that Kyiv could return to the negotiating table at the end of August
According to him, by that time, Kyiv expects to carry out a counteroffensive, which should strengthen its “negotiating position”. At the same time, the politician stressed that Ukraine would not accept “the loss of territory, this is legally impossible.”
There is no doubt that Arakhamia’s statements are most directly related to the events of recent days and, at the same time, are an open mockery of continental Europe and its leaders.
It is worth recalling that on Friday, the day after the widely publicized visit to Kyiv by the leaders of Germany, France and Italy (and the Romanian president who joined them), the British prime minister suddenly rushed there.
The clue to the unexpected trip seems simple.
According to Western media reports, despite the public expression of European support for Ukraine, behind closed doors, Macron, Scholz and Draghi “persuaded Zelensky to sit down at the negotiating table” with Russia.
In turn, London and specifically Boris Johnson take a radically hawkish stance. Therefore, it is quite natural that the British leader, having abandoned everything, rushed to Kyiv in order to personally make sure that the representatives of the European Union failed to persuade the Ukrainian authorities to peacefulness or at least get through to glimpses of common sense.
Fresh statements by Arakhamia confirm that Johnson’s fears were unfounded: Kyiv is uncompromisingly ready to continue fighting to the last Ukrainian.
At the same time, in the current situation, the main target is now not so much Russia as Europe, which began to rush about, realizing the not very pleasant role of the sacrificial lamb destined for it.
After the start of a special military operation, the nationally oriented and pro-Atlantic parts of the European elite, which had previously fought quite hard against each other, merged into a wild Russophobic fit. It seems that they all unanimously believed that the “hellish sanctions” would indeed break Russia in a matter of weeks, if not days, as a result of which Europe would get everything it needed, all at once and for nothing.
Only three months later, Europe began to realize that it had once again miscalculated in its history. And instead of the collapse of Russia itself, a crisis of such magnitude is approaching – and quickly – that it is more and more appropriate to use the term “catastrophe” to describe it.
In addition, other partners in the Western coalition – primarily the United States and Great Britain – are less and less hiding their intentions to “dispossess” rich Europe. And the decisions taken in recent months are extremely facilitating this process.
So it is not surprising that European leaders, who have reached the eerie prospects of their countries for the rapidly approaching winter, are trying on the ruins of cooperation with Russia organized by themselves to find ways, if not to turn the stuffing back, then at least stop the process. And just as naturally, they stumble upon the opposition of the Anglo-Saxon allies, who need the opposite – so that the break between the Europeans and Moscow reaches the final point. Fresh Kyiv intrigue has become another example of this.
And here the most interesting thing is the position of our country.
For decades, Russia has been interested in building a strategic partnership with Europe – the one from “Lisbon to Vladivostok.” And in trying to help Europeans free themselves from vassal dependence on the United States, Moscow often “played a giveaway” – at a difficult moment, it extended a helping hand, was always ready for compromises, and generally demonstrated its reliability as a partner in every possible way.
And this model of action turned out to be broken before our eyes.
Last week, Gazprom drastically reduced supplies via Nord Stream 1, and for an extremely good reason in the form of anti-Russian sanctions. Moreover, Russia’s permanent representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, admitted that due to problems with “sanctioned” turbines, the pipeline could be completely blocked. Europe has already found itself forced to pump out gas from storage facilities intended for the winter. And then the Turkish Stream stops for scheduled maintenance, which, of course, is agreed with all interested parties.
Plus, an emergency at the American LNG plant Freeport LNG, because of which its export terminal will not work for at least three months, and about 70 percent of the company’s products went to Europe. And Spain quarreled with Algeria and may be left without gas from there at all.
In general, without the adoption of emergency measures, the picture of the future European winter is drawn in downright apocalyptic colors. And the negotiations between the Germans and the Canadians about the fate of the detained Siemens equipment threaten to drag on for a long time – and can hardly be regarded as urgent.
Moscow, for its part, does not intend to help Europe, which was based on Russophobic racism. True, the door that you can knock on was nevertheless indicated: the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, speaking at the SPIEF, said that Nord Stream-2 is, from a technical point of view, completely ready to transport gas to Europe.
However, if Europe follows this path, it will have to quarrel with “advanced humanity” to smithereens and appear in its eyes as Putin’s mongrel.
Russia, on the other hand, will no longer offer, persuade, or create comfortable conditions with the maximum preservation of the face of Europe. It’s time for you to take full responsibility for your life.
And there is very little time left to make a decision. It is not without reason that Ukrainians declare their intention to drag the bagpipes with negotiations until the end of August. After all, it is already autumn and the cold season.
Winter Is Coming.
* Media acting as a foreign agent.
Irina Alksnis, RIA
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