Russian President Vladimir Putin has downplayed the possibility of President Trump cancelling a planned meeting on the sidelines of this weekend’s G20. He says the US has not contacted him about any cancellations yet, and that he maintains Russia did nothing wrong.
Trump made the comments Tuesday after a Sunday maritime incident between Russia and Ukraine, saying he didn’t like the Russian aggression. Putin says that Ukraine was clearly in the wrong in violating Russian waters. Putin further said he believes Ukrainian President Poroshenko started the provocation as a political move, because he was polling so poorly in next year’s vote.
This allowed Poroshenko, Putin says, to impose martial law. With just a few months ahead of the vote, Poroshenko can now use his increased powers to try to both shore up his political reputation, and scare the public about the threat of a Russian invasion, which has been his main talking point virtually since his election.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the US for backing Ukraine over the matter, saying they are encouraging Ukraine to carry on with provocations. Defense Secretary James Mattis said this just proves you can’t trust the Russians, though US officials would likely have said that with or without the incident.
By history and geographic location the Ukraine fits in the Russian Federation and not in the EU or NATO. The solution that must be found is how to refit Ukraine with the RF. As long as that has not been achieved there will be more dangerous incidents.
The latest news is that President Trump has cancelled his meeting with Putin. I am disappointed. This is not the time for finger pointing but for beginning to find solutions for more stability in that region and reducing war threats. If it had been for the relationship of Ukraine and Russia only I would have understood the cancellation. However it is also about EU-Russia; EU-Ukraine; NATO-Russia; and NATO-Ukraine. It is on NATO-Russia and NATO-Ukraine where our President does have a major role. Nothing can be settled at the G20 meeting but a discussion of components for solutions can be started. Unfortunately there is a valid question whether our President is sufficiently well informed to be a mediator.
Perhaps it is necessary to appoint a special envoy with ample staff to investigate possibilities of resolving this situation without war directly under the President which means Senate approval. That envoy must gain the trust of all parties involved: NATO, EU, Russia, and Ukraine. There probably are not very many unprejudiced mediators available. Politicians are probably all prejudiced. Can one be found among University faculties? Like FDR picked his excellent envoy to Nazi Germany.
And one more thing: keep the UN out of this. It will be difficult enough to sail through all of the domestic issues which will pop up.