Today’s Ukraine crisis is attributable to a Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed coup while 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted the Sochi Winter Olympics. Pro-Western separatists led by 50-year-old Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitsckko toppled the duly elected, Kremlin-backed government of Vitkor Yanukovych, chasing him out of Kiev. Backed by the CIA, the Feb. 22, 2014 coup was perfectly timed while Putin had no options while he completed the Sochi Winter Olympics. Not one Western government or press report comes close to admitting how the Ukraine mess started, instead blaming Putin for the last eight years. “Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 after mass protests prompted Ukraine’s Moscow-friendly leader to flee to Russia,” said the Associated Press, completely distorting the actual Feb. 22, 2014 events. Putin was blindsided by a CIA-backed Kiev coup.
No Western government or press admits that the Feb. 22, 2014 coup threatened Putin’s Sevastopol naval base in Crimea, prompting Putin March 1, 2014 to annex the Crimean Peninsula. For the past eight years, the West blames Putin, not admitting that had the Feb 22, 2014 CIA-backed coup not taken place, Crimea would still be part of Ukraine. When it comes to today’s crisis, Ukraine’s 43-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to exploit the U.S. and NATO to antagonize the Russian Federation, trying, without much Western help, to blame Putin for the current crisis. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Rybakov, who led discussions in Geneva Jan. 10, insists that the U.S. and NATO must provide ironclad guarantees that Ukraine cannot receive security assistance from the West. Rybakov said that 59-year-old Secretary of State Tony Blinken will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Friday in Geneva.
When special U.S. envoy Wendy Sherman met with Rybakov in Geneva last week, no progress was made because Sherman insisted Russia remove troops from the Ukraine border. President Joe Biden has driven a hardcore policy with Russia, not realizing that compromise was necessary to defuse the current tensions. “The Russian side is aware of our determination,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Rybakov said last week in Geneva that the Russian Federation has no intent of invading Ukraine, a constant accusation made by Zelensky to U.S. and NATO officials. Rybakov said Putin expects the U.S. and NATO to stop encroaching on Russian territory, supplying Ukraine with arms and military assistance. Western officials and the press insist that Russia’s troop build up near Ukraine indicates an imminent invasion.
As long as Western governments and the press deny that the Ukraine situation started Feb. 22, 2014 with a CIA-backed coup, then they continue to blame Putin for the current crisis. Putin has asked for very little, simply guarantees that Ukraine will not become part of NATO, and, at the same time, NATO will not encroach on Russian national security. When Blinken meets Lavrov in Geneva Jan. 21, he’d better come with some concessions. Lavrov, 72, is the final word on matters of Russian Foreign Policy, a seamless Putin ally. Biden and Blinken have taken a hostile attitude ward Putin and the Russian Federation since taking office a year ago. Why Biden and Blinken have pushed the world to the brink over Ukraine is anyone’s guess. Ukraine, as a poor Black Sea country, has no national security significance to the U.S. Letting U.S.-Russian relations deteriorate has harmed national security.
Whatever Biden’s beef with Putin, it’s more difficult to understand why the Western press continues to push for armed conflict with the Russian Federation. Watching the New York Times, Washington Post and AP continue to blame Putin for what happened Feb. 22, 2014 in Ukraine shows the extent of Western propaganda and disinformation. Hiding the CIA-backed coup undermines any Western credibility when it comes to Putin’s March 1, 2014 invasion of Crime. With Klitschko’s hostile pro-Western forces, Putin had no choice but to protect his Sevastopol naval base in Crimea. Yet if you follow Western propaganda, Putin annexed Crimea out of naked, unprovoked aggression. When Blinke meets Lavrov, he’d better be prepared for some honest discussions or expect the Ukraine situation to get worse. Western governments and the press must admit what happened Feb. 22, 2014.
Meeting with Lavrov Jan. 21, Blinken needs to find a way to de-escalate the Ukraine situation. Giving Putin a security guarantee that NATO will no longer supply Ukraine with military hardware and advisers would be a good start. Biden and Blinken knows that U.S.-Russian relations is far more important to national security that any ongoing relationship with Ukraine. No one in the European Union [EU] wants more confrontation with Moscow, knowing that Moscow sells the EU some 40% of its energy needs. All the talk of blocking the $12 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline sabotages the ongoing business relationship between the EU and Russia. Biden and Blinken must understand the historic business ties the EU has with Russia. Unlike the U.S., Russia has been a reliable energy supplier to the EU for years. EU has good reason to get along with the Russian Federation.
