... legitimate?
«We should not recognize the order that was built against Russia. We tried to integrate in it but we saw it was a Versailles system number 2. I wrote that we had to destroy it. Not by force, but through constructive destruction, through refusal to participate in it. But after the last demand to stop NATO was again rejected, it was decided to use force».
So the overall goal of this war is to overturn the presence of NATO in central and eastern European countries?
«We see that most of the institutions are, in our view, one-sided and illegitimate....
... fact, European integration is now, and in what direction we can expect its further development amid the new conditions. And it would probably be an oversimplification to believe that the European Union has now turned into an “economic department of NATO”, performing only auxiliary functions in relation to the bloc, which is the central instrument of US policy in the western part of Eurasia. First of all, because the future of this association seems to be no less diverse than the prospects of all,...
A former adviser to the Kremlin explains how Russia views the *** in Ukraine, fears over Nato and China, and the fate of liberalism.
A former presidential adviser to both Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, Sergey Karaganov is honorary chair of the Moscow think tank the Council for Foreign and Defence Policy. He is associated with a number ...
... his nation. He said that the initial intent is to stop Kiev’s genocidal onslaught on the newly recognized Donbass Republics, after it provoked a third round of civil war hostilities with Washington’s backing. The Russian leader also claimed that NATO clandestinely established military infrastructure in the former Soviet Republic for the purpose of carrying out a surprise attack against his country sometime in the future. This would presumably come after the U.S. neutralized Russia’s nuclear ...
... Ukraine to eliminate what it has voiced for several years as precisely such an existential threat emanating from the U.S. and NATO, which has to do with their deployment of major weapons as well as highly trained military personnel—indoctrinated with ... ... now considered by historians as one of the most dangerous international situations ever, the leadership of the USSR and the USA were motivated not so much by the formal norms of international law as by a sober consideration of the consequences of a nuclear ...
... for violation of Article 2(4) should understand the circumstances that led the Kremlin to take such an extreme step. The accusation that Russia has breached the core principles of international law is unfounded and disingenuous. It should be remembered ... ... and place of the enemy’s attack.”
If we apply the same doctrine to the Ukraine crisis, it seems quite justified—since NATO expansion in Eastern Europe and the CIS nations is a legitimate concern for Russia and a violation of the Minsk Agreements ...
... formula did not cut the Gordian knot. After the last Normandy summit in December 2019 Kiev on numerous occasions declared that Minsk 2 was unacceptable and should be revised or cancelled altogether. Under V. Zelenski even P. Poroshenko faced the accusations of treason as one of the signatories of Minsk 2. Zelenski, Danilov, Reznik, Kuleba and others members of the Ukrainian leadership repeatedly expressed their opposition to Minsk 2 in the last months and weeks. Moscow agreed to two more meetings of the political directors of the leaders ...
... to limit NATO enlargement and to withdraw the “old guard’s” troops and arms from Eastern Europe.
Igor Ivanov:
Russia-NATO: On the History of the Current Crisis
While it is tempting to attribute these demands to unrealistic expectations that Moscow ... ... to strike weapons, military exercises near Russia’s borders—Russia will nevertheless be unable to neglect the flat-out refusal it encountered on the issues that were declared vital to its interests.
In the event that Russia receives no sufficient ...
... surpassing the last defense budget of Donald Trump. It is inevitable that the U.S. will press forward to modernize its nuclear triad. Russia to a large extent has already done so. It is a reverse situation in comparison to the Cold War era. This time NATO has an overwhelming superiority in conventional weapons, and Russia with its nuclear doctrine has to rely heavily on nuclear deterrence. Recently the UK has sharply raised the ceiling of its nuclear warheads. A new fundamental shift is occurring—a ...
... it take that step. Moscow vehemently denies any such plans, while maintaining that Kyiv is preparing for an assault on the Donbas separatists in Eastern Ukraine. Russian military maneuvers in Crimea, Western Russia and Belarus unnerve the West, while NATO plans a buildup of forces along its long frontier with Russia stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. Meanwhile, a fitful round of diplomacy preserves hope that the crisis can be defused without military conflict — although the leaked ...
