Dina Mahmoud (Capitals)
Yesterday, the Russian National Security Council accused the West of declaring a new “cold war” against Russia, calling for taking advantage of the “Caribbean crisis” in order to address the current differences.
“The West has started a new cold war against Russia,” the Russian “TASS” news agency quoted the Deputy Secretary of the National Security Council, Alexander Venediktov, as saying on the 60th anniversary of the Caribbean crisis. He added that “the experience of the Caribbean crisis that occurred in 1962 and the phase of détente that followed, especially at this time when the West declared a new cold war against Russia, must be studied.”
He stated that “the Caribbean crisis is a model about the ability of the two superpowers to ignore differences in order to work for the benefit of all humanity.”
It is noteworthy that the “Caribbean Crisis”, also known as the “Cuban Missile Crisis”, is a confrontation that took place between the United States and the former Soviet Union allied with Cuba in October 1962 in the context of the Cold War.
Observers describe the crisis as one of the most severe confrontations during the Cold War, as it was the closest crisis that almost led to a nuclear war.
This comes on the eve of the crisis in Ukraine entering its eighth month, while Western experts and analysts warn that the fighting in this country has turned into a long-term conflict, after Russia announced the partial mobilization of its forces, for the first time since the era of World War II, in light of indications of That this will coincide with the increase in Western military support directed to Kyiv.
At the same time, however, analysts ruled out that the current confrontation would escalate, to the point of resorting to nuclear weapons, in the near future at least, despite the fact that the prisoner exchange deal concluded a few days ago did not lead to a lull in the fighting on the ground, in light of Russian accusations. The Ukrainian exchange continues, bombing targets on both sides.
Yesterday, the voting process for the referendum on self-determination began in 4 Ukrainian regions: Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye, which aims to join Russia, according to Russian news agencies, in a move that Kyiv and several Western countries considered “sham”. At 5:00 GMT, until September 27, in the four regions controlled by Russia.
NATO considered that “sham referendums in Ukraine are illegitimate,” while the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe stressed that “the results of referendums have no legal force, as they do not comply with Ukrainian law or international standards.”
In the referendum on the accession of Donetsk, 450 polling stations were placed on the territory of the eastern Ukrainian region.
It also opened more than 200 other polling stations in the Russian interior, so that residents of the region who were evacuated to Russia can vote.
Also in Lugansk, it was decided to open 461 polling stations in the region, in addition to another 201 polling stations in regions within Russia.
In the Zaporozhye region, the pro-Russian local authorities have set up 394 polling stations, while another 85 polling stations are expected to be located outside the region, specifically in Russia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson.
As for the Kherson region, local authorities have established 8 regional voting committees and 198 subcommittees, while polling stations will also be opened for voting in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and a number of cities within Russia.
The experts pointed out that the Russian military mobilization would constitute an opportunity for Kiev and a challenge to it at the same time, as Moscow’s provision of training for all this number of soldiers would take time, which the Ukrainian army could exploit to achieve field gains, in the framework of its recent counter-offensive, but it would also put pressure on the Ukrainian military, to push them to seek to gain control of more territory quickly, before they face on the front lines, an opponent with much greater fighting and firepower, after weeks or perhaps several months.
In statements published by the “Channel News Asia” website, the experts stressed that Moscow’s resort to the nuclear option does not seem likely, unless it crosses what the Kremlin considers red lines, which it has announced before, namely the entry of NATO forces. » to Ukraine and clash directly with the Russian army, or the incursion of Ukrainian forces into the Russian territory itself.
They added that it is also unlikely, at the present time, to launch negotiations between the two sides of the crisis to reach an agreement that would put an end to the ongoing battles between them since the twenty-fourth of last February, unless either of them decides to abandon the military option and remove its hand from the current conflict.
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