Using the 80-year anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Russia to oppose Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership, 68-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin put the Transatlantic Partnership on notice that any change it its relationship with Ukraine would result in strong Russian countermeasures. Meeting with 78-year-old President Joe Biden in a lakeside Geneva villa, Putin opened the door to an improved U.S.-Russian relations after the first six months of Biden’s presidency drove relations to the brink. Biden and his 58-year-old Secretary of State Tony Blinken slammed Putin for human rights abuses, focusing in on 44-year-old Russian dissident Alexi Navalny. Biden and Blinken called on Putin to release Navalny from a Russian penal colony, where he serves out a two-and-a-half year term for violating terms of his parole, in what Navalny calls phony charges for income tax evasion.
Biden and Blinken had no businesses in meddling in Russian internal affairs, any more that they like Putin to meddle in U.S. elections, democracy or anything else. Yet Biden and Blinken hit U.S.-Russian relations with a wrecking ball without any tangible benefit to U.S. national security So, when Biden met with Putin June 16, no one knew, including Putin, what to expect. For the first six months in office, Biden and Blinken threatened and hit the Russian Federation with new sanctions, largely over Russian-based gangs hacking, but also for a military build-up along the Ukraine border. Putin invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula March 1, 2014, prompting the U.S. and European Union [EU] to initiate as series of economic sanctions. Yet Putin wrote an oped in Germany’s Die Zeit newspaper calling NATO’s recent moves “Cold War-era diving lines” in Europe.
No one from the West, including the U.S. and EU, talk about the Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed coup in Kiev, toppling the Kremlin-backed duly elected government of Viktor Yanukovych while Putin hosted the Sochi Winter Olympics. One week after the closing ceremony, Putin invaded Crimea to protect Russian naval bases in Savastopol, home to Russia’s warm water fleet. Putin talked of the sacrifice Russian made to defeat the Nazis in WW II, losing some 27 million Russians, both military and civilians. When the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, several former Soviet satellites, including Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, also joined NATO, creating problems for Russia, concerned about NATO encroachment on the Russian border. So when Putin talks about red lines, he’s not kidding when it comes to Ukraine, whose 43-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky has been begging for NATO membership.
Zelensky continues to push for NATO membership, prompting Putin to warn the Transatlantic Partnership that there would be consequences, including annexing more territory in the Russian-speaking Donbass region AKA the “peoples Republic of Donetsk,” which wants no part of the pro-Western Kiev government. Germany’s heir apparent for Chancellor Angela Merkel is Armin Laschhet called on NATO to develop a sensible relationship with the Kremlin, like Germany, who’s completing the $12 billion Nord Stream 2 Pipeline, bring natural gas from Russia to Germany. Germany and the EU currently buy about 40% of their energy from the Russian Federation. So when the U.S. urges the EU to hit Russia with more sanctions, they look at longstanding business relations with the Kremlin. Laschet praised Biden for toning down the Cold War rhetoric at the Geneva summit.
Putin said it his Die Zeit oped that NATO’s encroachment in Eastern Europe has created condition where he must set a red line in Ukraine. Biden responded to Putin’s concerns about Ukraine pushing for NATO membership but giving Zelensky the cold shoulder when requesting a plan for NATO membership. “Russia stands for restoring a comprehensive partnership with Europe . . . and we can’t afford to keep on dragging baggage of frustrations, conflicts and mistakes with us,” Putin said. Biden set the right tone in Geneva, not accusing Putin of orchestrating a propaganda campaign against the U.S. and EU. “I’m convinced we all have to admit our mistakes and rectify them,” Putin said, referring to his military build-up in Ukraine, largely stemming from the CIA-backed coup in Kiev. Laschet said he wants to “establish as sensible relationship with Russia,” one that’s mutually beneficial.
Putin looks to improve his partnership with the U.S. and EU as long as it’s based on mutual respect. Putin didn’t think a Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed coup in Kiev met the standard of mutually beneficial relations. “Russia stands for restoring a comprehensive partnership with Europe . . and we can’t afford to keep on dragging the baggage of frustrations, conflicts and mistakes with us,” Putin said, letting Biden know he’s no interested in getting bullied by the U.S. and EU. Putin knows the sacrifice Russia made to end WW II, losing some 27 million citizens, a staggering number far eclipsing the combined losses from the U.S. and European countries. When he sees NATO breathing down Eastern Europe’s neck, he thinks the Transatlantic Alliance should show more respect for the Kremlin. When it comes to Ukraine, Putin served notice for NATO to stay clear of the region.
