President Putin’s pragmatic proposals should be seen as a public attempt to resolve the US-provoked crisis in Russian-Ukrainian relations that’s occurring within the context of the much more significant US-provoked missile crisis in Europe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shared several pragmatic proposals for improving relations with Ukraine during a press conference on Tuesday. These are that country’s recognition of Crimea and Sevastopol’s democratic referendums to reunite with Russia; Kiev’s official refusal to pursue NATO membership; and the demilitarization of Ukraine after it was pumped full of modern Western weapons. It will now be explained why these are all reasonable to suggest.
First, Russia considers the so-called “issue” of Crimea to be closed. There’s no realistic way that it’ll ever return to Ukraine’s subjugation. As a formal part of that Eurasian Great Power, Moscow will militarily defend it just like it would defend any other region within its borders. Kiev’s so-called “Crimean Platform” is nothing but a propagandistic platform for waging information warfare against Russia and encouraging its US-led Western partners to continue giving it more financial and military aid.
Second, Russia officially regards NATO as an existential threat, the nature of which President Putin elaborated upon during his address to the Russian people on Monday evening while explaining his recognition of the Donbass Republics. Relations with Ukraine can never improve so long as that country remains captured by the US’ anti-Russian military alliance and is actively being exploited as a proxy for crossing its target’s national security red lines, especially after Kiev just declared its nuclear intentions.
And third, Ukraine’s US-led militarization remains threatening to Russia, both in terms of the scenarios that could materialize to directly undermine its national security and also with respect to provoking conventional clashes between them if Kiev continues attacking the Donbass Republics. That’s because Moscow agreed to a mutual defense treaty with them earlier this week so it’ll defend them from Kiev’s genocidal threats. Without demilitarizing to a certain extent, Ukraine will always remain troublesome.
None of these proposals are unrealistic for Russia to make. Observers should remember that the ongoing crisis is less of a Russian-Ukrainian territorial one and more of an undeclared US–provoked missile crisis in Europe. Ukraine just happens to be the primary trigger for escalating these long-boiling tensions. It’s being exploited as a proxy by the Pentagon for creating the pretext to further erode Russia’s nuclear second-strike capabilities through more regional strike weapon deployments.
Nevertheless, it’s unlikely that Kiev will implement any of what Moscow just requested. That’s because it’s not truly sovereign in the practical sense since the US-led West succeeded in capturing total control of the state. Ukraine’s independence only remains on paper whereas the reality is that the country has actually been colonized by foreign forces who pull the strings of its elected leaders and members of its permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies (“deep state”).
That being the case, President Putin’s pragmatic proposals should be seen as a public attempt to resolve the US-provoked crisis in Russian-Ukrainian relations that’s occurring within the context of the much more significant US-provoked missile crisis in Europe. Washington has thus far shown no goodwill towards Moscow nor sincerity in seriously considering its security guarantee requests, which is why the Western Eurasian theater of the New Cold War will likely remain tense for the foreseeable future.