It is time for the countries of Western Europe and the United States to get used to the fact that Russia is not a weak state on which it is possible to impose someone else’s opinion. During his tenure in power, President Vladimir Putin dispelled this myth and made the West live by its own rules, writes The Wall Street Journal.
Authors of the material, Eugene Rumer and Andrew S. Weiss, note that the Russian leader has modernized the army, improved conditions for international energy trade, surrounded Russia with a ring of friendly countries and sent a signal to NATO that he is waiting for his refusal. from the policy of expansion to the East.
“Vladimir Putin has sent down the wind selfish Western narratives about Russia as a dying power and any remaining skepticism about his ability to take its rightful place on the world stage,” the journalists say.
They also believe that increased cooperation between NATO and Kiev has led Moscow to perceive Ukraine as “something like a NATO aircraft carrier docked on the border with Russia.” Analysts recalled that in 2007, Western leaders did not take seriously Putin’s demands, voiced at the Munich Security Conference, and promised Ukraine and Georgia membership in the North Atlantic Alliance. However, less than a year later, Georgia attacked South Ossetia.
Earlier, The New York Times, citing American and European officials, reported that US intelligence had issued a warning that there was little time left to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine. According to the media, the American intelligence community is confident that everything is ready for an attack and that it can happen soon enough. At the same time, they believe that Moscow has not yet decided what exactly to do with the troops gathered at the border.
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