By Janet Ekstract
ISTANBUL- On Monday, in the open UN Security Council Meeting it was evident that Russia’s Ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia chose a gaslighting technique to rattle his counterparts from the West. Nebenzia accused the U.S. of wanting to start a war with its rhetoric about massive troop deployment on Ukraine’s border. UN Ambassador to the U.S. Linda Thomas-Greenfield held her ground, reminding Nebenzia that massive troops along a country’s border would make any nation feel “uncomfortable.” Clearly, her remark was understated to keep provocation to a minimum but Nebenzia kept needling his U.S. counterpart.
On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to speak to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The U.S. presented its proposal for Russia to review last week and Russia allegedly replied though the Kremlin has sought to express to the contrary. This is despite a flurry of diplomatic meetings designed to ease tensions and bring about a resolution that both Russia and Ukraine could be satisfied with. But on Tuesday, Russia insisted that it hasn’t delivered its answers to the U.S. proposal just yet, leaving the international community wondering about Putin’s next move.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet with Ukraine’s President Zelensky as will German Foreign Minister Annalee Baerbock who is also scheduled to meet with Putin as well. Later, on Tuesday, Putin will hold a news conference with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban after his meeting with the Hungarian leader. Also, Putin spoke again with French President Emmanuel Macron in a call late Monday night. It is expected that Macron and Putin are in talks for a face-to-face meeting while Ukraine is hosting leaders from Poland, the Netherlands and Turkey this week.
While analysts and experts on Putin and the region are not particularly optimistic about the current crisis, the U.S. and its allies appear to still be holding out hope of a last minute resolution. Russia’s demands sound more like dictating to NATO what it needs to do to make Russia happy. The U.S. and NATO have made it very clear to Putin that such a path is definitely not an option. The U.S. announced on Monday that it had received Russia’s written responses to its proposal but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Russia sent Washington “notes on a different issue.” Peskov told reporters that “Russia’s main response on the major current topic has not been sent. This response is still being prepared.”
In the meantime, the latest shipment of U.S. aid arrived in Kyiv early on Tuesday. The U.S. Embassy said on Twitter that it prefers diplomacy but plans to continue providing Ukraine “the defensive assistance needed to defend against Russia’s massive military force.” On Monday. the U.S. ordered families of American diplomats to leave neighboring Belarus, where Russia sent tanks and troops under the pretext of what it says are “military exercises.” Analysts and experts on the region,know all too well that military exercises do not involve over 130.000 troops on a neighboring country’s border without a reason behind it. Putin is clearly playing the Russian roulette card. The question is how long can he play and how far will he go?
