Talking tough to Russia, 63-year-old NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned Russian President Vladimr Putin to de-escalate his 100,000 troop build-up on the Ukrainian border. Russian President Vladimir Putin, 69, knows that Stoltengberf is bluffing military action against Russia forces if they breach the Ukrainian. Border. Putin has amassed troops on the Ukrainian border before, letting NATO know that any involvement to defend Ukraine would be a red line for the Kremlin. NATO is in no position to start a regional war with Russia that could escalate very quickly into WW III. Putin faces enough economic challenges and social unrest in Russia to start a war with the West. But unlike NATO, Putin is used to mobilizing Russian forces like he did March 1, 2014 when he invaded Crimea. Ukraine’s 43-year-old President Voldymyr Zelensky has done everything to get NATO to go to war.
Stloltenberg said he wants to do everything possible to prevent an escalation in Ukraine, warning Putin to withdraw his forces from the Ukrainian border. Telling Putin what to do escalates the situation, especially meeting with Zelensky to threaten potential NATO involvement. Putin has made clear to the U.S. and NATO that any attempt to offer Ukraine membership would be considered a red line for the Russian Federation. Putin only yesterday, in an act of goodwill, called off Russian war games in the Black Sea to show his commitment to peace and stability. Stoltenberg’s warning has the exact opposite effect on the Kremlin. “We have to be clear-eyed, we need to be realistic about the challenges we face. And what we see is a significant, large Russian military build-up,” Stoltenberg said. Stoltenberg’s public remarks contribute to the tensions on the Ukrainian border.
Zelensky has sought since taking office May 20, 2019 a confrontation with Russia but only if he can get the U.S. or NATO to fight his battles. Instead of working with Putin on diplomacy and confidence-building, Zelensky does the opposite, manipulating NATO to open up membership to Ukraine. If there’s any threat of a Russian invasion in the pro-Russian Donbass border region in Southeastern Ukraine, it would happen because of NATO interference. Stoltenberg thinks he’s helping defuse the situation but he’s escalating the conflict. Zelensky doesn’t admit publicly that a CIA-backed coup, led by former heavyweight boxier Vitali Klitschko, Feb. 22, 2014 forced Putin to annex Crimea. Had the CIA-backed Kiev coup not toppled the Kremlin-backed Kiev government, Putin would not have annexed Crimea. Now Stoltenberg makes matters worse by threatening the Russian Federation.
Western nations led by the U.S. and European Union [EU] have made Ukraine’s situation far worse than had Kiev worked with Moscow to resolve any differences. But once the CIA-backed coup Feb. 22, 2014 threatened Putin’s naval base in Savasopol, Crimea, he moved in. “We see an unusual concentration of troops, and we know that Russia has been willing to use these types of military capabilities before to conduct aggressive actions against Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said, escalating tensions. Stoltenberg knows what happened Feb. 22, 2014 when a pro-NATO coup toppled the Kremlin backed government of Yanukovych. So when Stoltenberg talks about Russia aggression, he completely ignores the Feb. 22, 2014 pro-Western coup prompting Putin to annex Crimea. Whether Zelensky admits it or not, pro-Russian separatists in Crimea and Donbass wants no part of Kiev’s pro-Western government.
If Stotenberg really wants to de-escalate the Russian troop build-up near the Ukrainian border, he should stop talking to Zelensky or hinting that NATO would defend Ukraine if Putin moves to annex more Ukrainian territory. Stoltengberg knows the reason Ukraine has not been accepted for NATO membership is precisely because they’re in an ongoing conflict with the Russian Federation. Zelensky has tried his best to get Stotenberg to take the bait to defend Ukraine. No one in the EU wants any armed conflict with the Russian Federation. It’s doubtful President Joe Biden, 78, would commit U.S. troops to battling the Russian Federation to defend Ukraine’s borders. If Zelensky can’t figure out a path to diplomacy with the Kremlin, why should the U.S., NATO or EU commit to defending Ukraine? Stoltenberg’s public remarks hurt Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Putin has his forces near the Ukrainian border to remind Stoltenberg to stop the gunboat diplomacy and let Zelensky take responsibility as a world leader to get along with his neighbor. Stoltenberg doesn’t do Ukraine any favors pretending that NATO would defend Ukraine from a Russian invasion. “This is partly forces close to the border between Russia and Ukraine, but it is also partly troop and capabilities which are inside Ukraine, meaning the are in Crimea, which is illegally annexed, and also we see the militants, the separatists, in Donbass, which is also part of Ukraine, supported and helped by Russia,” Stoltenberg said. Stoltenberg says nothing about pro-Russian separatists wanting no part of the Kiev government. If Stoltenberg wants to preserve Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, he needs to tell Zelensky to work out his problems with the Russian Federation, not bother NATO.
