“Don’t tell Johnson, but Draghi spoke to Putin today,” the Guardian illustrated in the British newspaper. British Prime Minister flying to Kiev. Boris Johnson, according to the press, is flying in the wrong place and at the wrong time. Hints – from the same Guardian and CNN, which, according to French President Emmanuel Macron, name the Russian leader Vladimir Putin “a person with whom you can have a deep and detailed conversation.”
The intimidating headline “Will Putin Make the Cold War Hot” is an involuntary illustration of the fact that almost everything depends on Moscow, because other leaders procrastinate and procrastinate. As long as US President Joseph Biden and the Senate do not move towards de-escalation, everything is decided in the UN Security Council, where, according to the Washington Post, there was a “bitter” discussion between Russia and the United States.
Discarding all decency, Joseph Biden relegates the guest to the background. The Emir of Qatar will wait until the US president reads his impressions of a week-old telephone conversation from a piece of paper.
“Let me, before I move on to talking about our guest, say a few words about Russia and Ukraine. Last week I had a productive conversation with President (Ukraine Vladimir – ed.) Zelensky, and we continue to engage in non-stop diplomacy, de-escalation of tensions and trying to improve the security of our allies and partners and all of Europe, for that matter. But as Russia continues to build up its forces around Ukraine, we are ready for whatever happens,” the American leader said.
The White House had to recall the conversation with Zelensky – someone leaked the details of the conversation to the press. Allegedly, it was not smooth, and the Ukrainian ward asked not to escalate the situation – everything is calm at the border. But the Americans know better. Journalists sent from across the ocean to Kiev find the extras more accommodating and more artistic.
“These civilians have gathered in the suburbs of Kiev. They could go shopping, but instead they are doing basic military training in case of a Russian invasion,” Fox News airs.
The Ukrainian president, defense minister, head of the SBU speak about the absurdity of the news about the “Russian invasion”. Quotes from their speeches Russian Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya brought to a meeting of the UN Security Council, convened at the initiative of the United States.
“Our Western colleagues do not take into account the interests of the Ukrainian people in this destructive game. Their task is to prevent the natural fraternal coexistence of our two countries and peoples, which would destroy plans to weaken Russia, to form an “arc of instability” around it,” the Russian envoy said.
Prompting the translator, Vasily Nebenzya is trying to convey Moscow’s position to the whole world as clearly as possible. Speaking of aggression, the diplomat suggested looking at the numbers: Russia does not have 75 military bases abroad.
“The volume of the US military budget in 2020 amounted to $778 billion, the Russian one – $61 billion, that is, less than 12 times. These examples are absolutely obvious and specific threats to international peace and security,” Nebenzya said.
The US representative to the UN lamented – she did not hear from Russia an explanation of what was happening on the border with Ukraine, although Nebenzya explained: the troops were on Russian territory, in places of deployment, and our diplomats did not see the point in convening the Security Council.
With what pressure the Americans gathered the Security Council, Russian diplomats were told by their colleagues. To bring up the topic of the so-called invasion, it took nine votes, which the Americans, together with their loyal partners, did not gain. The rest were openly pressured not to vote against or abstain. Still, the daredevils were found. The representatives of India, Gabon and Kenya did not raise their hands. China supported Russia and voted against.
Washington twists his arms without hesitation. Argentinean and Brazilian newspapers write about how their foreign ministers are called and chastised by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken – demanding that the presidents’ trips to Moscow be cancelled. Alberto Fernandez is scheduled to visit Russia on February 3, Jair Bolsanaru is meeting with Vladimir Putin in a couple of weeks.
“We have business relations with Russia. You can rest assured that the visit will be successful,” Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said.
Brazil is a member of BRICS. Even without Ukraine, leaders have something to talk about, but listen to the Americans – this is how the whole world politics revolves around the “square”. Moscow demands security guarantees for itself, fearing NATO expansion. Washington stubbornly weaves Kiev into bilateral negotiations. The states responded with their proposals to ours, and on February 1, the main diplomats of both countries discuss the initiatives by phone.
“Today I confirmed to Anthony Blinken that this is still a topic that we will not allow to wrap up. And we will insist on an honest conversation and on an honest explanation why the West does not want to fulfill its obligations or wants to fulfill them exclusively selectively in its favor. Tony Blinken agreed that there is a subject for further discussion,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said following the conversation.
“But on the key issue, which, in general, prompted us to take initiatives to the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance, the reaction was negative. I mean our demands that everyone faithfully fulfill agreements on the indivisibility of securitythat were achieved within the framework of the OSCE in 1999 in Istanbul and in 2010 in Astana,” the Foreign Minister continued.
Only the fragments he needs are being pulled out of the security agreements by the West, Lavrov says. NATO speaks of the sacred right for new members, namely Ukraine, to join the Alliance. They refer to the provision from the OSCE documents adopted in Astana and Istanbul. Then all the leaders of the OSCE countries agreed that each state has the right to choose military alliances. But the collective West forgets about an important clarification in the documents: countries should not strengthen their security at the expense of the security of others. France even refers to the Paris summit in 1990, when there was no demand for the inadmissibility of strengthening one’s security at the expense of others. In this cacophony of interpretations, the Americans became so confused that they took the Russian message to NATO members as a response to their proposals. The states were in such a hurry that they even trumpeted the newspapers – Moscow’s answer was received.
“There is a misunderstanding here, because when we received the American reaction about a week ago, we started to study it, but it was immediately clear that the Americans prefer to concentrate on discussing issues that are also important in their own way, but secondary,” he said. this connection Lavrov.
With one hand, the Americans are for diplomacy, with the other they are sending more and more new batches of weapons to Ukraine. Another Boeing brought tons of weapons to Kiev. The sixth flight in less than ten days, and this is not the end, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov rejoices at the gifts. The secretary of the National Security Council also asks. Alexey Danilov talks about how two, and maybe two and a half million people will be put under arms, although Ukraine signed the Minsk agreements.
“The implementation of the Minsk agreements means the destruction of the country. The Minsk agreements were signed at Russian gunpoint, while Germany and France were watching this, and even then it was clear to all sane people that these documents could not be implemented,” Danilov said.
It depends on who is considered sane. When the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on the Minsk agreements seven years ago, there were not even abstentions. They voted unanimously for their implementation. From now on, Russia is chairing the UN Security Council and the Minsk agreements, which Washington and Kiev want to forget, will have to be remembered.