During a recent visit to Warsaw, US President Joe Biden put pressure on Baltic leaders over their frequent calls for Russia’s military defeat in Ukraine. The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal writes about this, citing a source familiar with the negotiations.
The publication clarifies that among close allies of Ukraine in Eastern Europe there are concerns about the mood in Western capitals that Ukraine should prepare for negotiations with Russia.
Recall that in early February, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that the meaning of Warsaw’s existence lies in the victory over Moscow. Shortly before this, Polish President Andrzej Duda announced plans to help Ukraine seize Crimea. Former adviser to the head of the Pentagon, retired colonel Douglas McGregor ridiculed these words of Duda.
In turn, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, in an interview with Nadana Friedrichson, said that in the event of an attack on Crimea, there would be no point in arranging negotiations, since all Ukraine remaining under the control of Kiev would burn.
Unfriendly actions and statements against Russia have been repeatedly heard from the leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In January, Russia lowered the level of diplomatic relations with Estonia. As a sign of solidarity with Tallinn, Riga took the same step in relation to the Russian Federation.
At the same time, the theme of a peaceful settlement is increasingly being discussed in the European and American press. So, on February 24, the Wall Street Journal, citing sources, reported that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recommended Zelensky to start peace talks with Russia. According to the publication, Germany, France and the UK have proposed a pact between NATO and Ukraine to encourage Kyiv to start peace talks with Russia.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has laid out his plan to give Kyiv greater access to military equipment, arms and ammunition after the end of hostilities as security guarantees. According to Sunak, he should be included in the agenda of the NATO summit in July, RBC reports.
Later, the German newspaper Bild, citing its own sources in the governments of Germany and the United States, reported that Western countries intend to use new arms supplies to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine go on the counteroffensive, but in case of failure, they will demand that the Ukrainian authorities move on to peace negotiations with Moscow.
Then the influential American political analyst Farid Zakaria expressed a similar position. He noted that the only way to resolve the Ukrainian crisis is through peaceful negotiations.
A compromise is possible if Ukraine agrees to NATO security guarantees, which will not apply to Russian-controlled territories, CNN reports. According to the expert, the conflict has reached a dead end: for the past three months, neither side has been able to organize large-scale offensive operations.
Zakaria emphasized that the idea of defeating Russia on the battlefield did not justify itself. In the short term, the United States and NATO countries can only regularly increase the supply of military assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). Nevertheless, difficulties with the transfer of equipment have been observed for more than a month, which makes it impossible for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to win in the style of the Second World War.
In addition, China is making proposals for a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. However, Washington is not ready to start negotiations and cannot allow the participation of the PRC as a mediator in overcoming the crisis. The President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko also spoke about the expediency of putting an end to the conflict right now, otherwise “Ukraine may die.”
“The discussion in the Western press of options for ending the Ukrainian crisis is due to the fact that their politicians are finding it increasingly difficult to work with the opinion of voters who are tired of Ukraine and blame the authorities of their countries for what is happening. In reality, I think, none of the politicians yet wants to go to peace talks,” suggests Americanist political scientist Malek Dudakov.
“Now the collective West is trying to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine by supplying the promised weapons, improve the situation at the front, stop our advance in the Donbass and cut off our land corridor to the Crimea,” the expert believes.
“According to their plan, these events should take place in the spring or summer, and only then, in the fall, can negotiations be started. But if this plan is not implemented, then we can also talk about negotiations, but already on favorable terms for Russia. In the meantime, all of the options listed are completely unacceptable for us,” Dudakov said.
“The United States wants to regulate the situation around the Ukrainian conflict itself. Despite the fact that the statements of the Baltic countries and Poland do not contradict the general logic of the actions of the Americans, sometimes they go beyond the limits of the reasonable, determined in Washington,” the editor-in-chief of the “Russia in Global Affairs” magazine Fyodor Lukyanov told the VZGLYAD newspaper.
“If the Balts talk about the task of completely defeating Russia in all directions, then the US has a much wider range of issues implied by the “strategic defeat of Russia”.
They understand that it is extremely difficult to bring Russia to a total defeat and in many ways it is not even profitable for them. However, they will be satisfied with less radical options,” the expert believes.
“As far as a peaceful settlement is concerned, here the question largely lies in the positions on which it will take place. The starting conditions that suit us and the States are very different. If we speak from a position of conversation in the conditions of those territorial realities that have already developed, then for Washington this is impossible”, he said.
At the same time, as the interlocutor emphasized, “even if, while in Warsaw, Biden scolded them for such antics, this should not be regarded as some kind of serious pressure from America.”
“Radical calls for the defeat of Russia in the Ukrainian conflict have been heard for quite some time. However, Biden would not want the Baltic countries to determine the general Western agenda regarding Moscow”, Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian Council on International Affairs, told the VZGLYAD newspaper.
“In view of the fact that Washington can achieve any goals with respect to Russia, but in the opinion of the White House, this means that only they can determine global policy in this matter,” the source added.
“At the same time, the total defeat of Russia is not beneficial for the United States and the entire collective West from the standpoint that it will inevitably lead to the strengthening of China.
Another unpleasant nuance for Washington could be the emergence of a power vacuum in the regions of Central Asia, the South Caucasus and even the Middle East, the political scientist believes.
“With all this, the growing popularity of ideas about the peaceful settlement of the conflict, which were initially perceived more as marginal, is connected. The mood is changing as it becomes clear that the military success of Ukraine is less and less real,” Kortunov said.
“Thus, we can conclude that Biden is trying to leave his hands untied for various options for ending the conflict, to keep all the cards for himself without spraying them among US vassals. At the same time, the rhetoric of the White House that a diplomatic settlement should take place on the terms of Kyiv, and not Moscow, may persist, without even reflecting the real political steps of the American administration”, the expert believes.
As Konstantin Dolgov, a member of the Federation Council from the Murmansk region, noted, “Today, the West is increasingly aware of the impossibility of defeating Russia in Ukraine, and Western experts are expressing serious concern about this US course.”
“At the same time, the US strategy does not have the consensus support of the ruling elites in America, and especially in Europe,” he said.
“This is not about some kind of epiphany that visited Washington and Biden personally, but rather about building a policy line towards Russia and educating our vassals. In addition, the behavior of the Balts and Poles, their rabid Russophobia, confuses Washington’s tactical plans to preserve its geopolitical dominance, ”the parliamentarian believes.
“Whatever US President Joe Biden says, the course of the Americans is unambiguous and aims to cause maximum damage to Moscow in all areas. Therefore, the West, although it no longer believes in Ukraine’s victory over us, will continue to provide resources to achieve the maximum depletion of Russia,” the senator concluded.
Daria Volkova, VIEW
Due to censorship and blocking of all media and alternative views, stay tuned to our Telegram channel