With tensions still high over Ukraine, Russia is eager to negotiate security guarantees it proposed to the US on Wednesday.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Moscow was ready to dispatch a negotiator to a neutral third country to discuss the proposals with the US “at any moment.”
Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried received the Russian proposals on Wednesday in Moscow and said she would bring them back to Washington and discuss them with US allies.
The continued dialogue between the US and Russia was the result of last week’s virtual meeting between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Peskov said the two leaders could speak again before the new year, although nothing has been confirmed.
Putin wants guarantees that NATO won’t expand further eastward or send missiles and troops into Ukraine. He has also said he wants NATO to rescind a promise it made in 2008 that Kyiv would eventually become a member of the alliance.
Despite all the saber-rattling coming out of Washington, the Biden administration has sent signals it wants to deescalate the situation. Last week, The Associated Press reported that US State Department officials told Ukraine that a NATO membership is unlikely to be approved within the next decade.
The AP report also said the US might pressure Kyiv to give autonomy to separatists in the eastern Donbas region, something Ukraine agreed to in the 2014 Minsk Protocol.
The Russians must enjoy pissing in the wind and banging their heads against a wall, because that’s all their attempts at diplomacy amount to. If they had invaded Ukraine, overthrown the government and taken over the country this would not be a problem. Instead, they wasted nearly 8 years on diplomacy, complaints to the UN, and a lawsuit.
If they had invaded Ukraine, overthrown the government and taken over the country
And rule over a land of murderous deadbeats and traitors?… Spassibo but nyet spassibo!
Amen. Even Europe/Germany does not want Ukraine on their payroll.
The “country” of Ukraine was part of Russia for over 1000 years. Kiev is where Russian civilization began. There were never any problems. If they don’t take over Ukraine, the problems will continue. Everything else they treid to do failed.
Putin always refer to Russian and Ukraine as one people and a reunification is definitely the strategic goal but to achieve it in the most harmonious way possible.
Why work harder than you have too?.. Right now the extremist factions are the headache of NATO. The only threat they pose is to the fake government of Kiev.
Let them stew in their own juices, I say.
A harmonious reunification probably isn’t going to happen. I don’t know how you can say NATO only poses a threat to Kiev. Russia said Ukraine being allowed into NATO and putting missiles there will be a red line for Russia. That’s why they are trying more useless diplomacy to resolve the problem. The question is – if this happens, does Russia have the guts to invade and overthrow the puppet government in Kiev, or is Putin going to run crying to the UN with his boyfriend Lavrov? It’s probably the latter. All of this could have been avoided if they had invaded in 2014 and take over Ukraine, instead of wasting 8 years on useless diplomacy.
I said the neonazis are a problem for NATO and Kiev – not the other way around.
Russia stationing troops on its border is deplomacy and has already got results.
There won’t be a need for an intervention by Russia because there will be no invasion of Donbas by Kiev.
The neo-nazis are not a problem for Kiev, as they still comprise much of the Kiev government. Antiwar wrote about this…
https://original.antiwar.com/justin/2018/12/06/a-monster-reawakens-the-rise-of-ukrainian-fascism-2/ …and neo-nazis are not a problem for NATO as they don’t have to deal with them.
Russia stationing troops on it’s border is not diplomacy, it’s a show of force. And it got only temporary results. Ukraine backed down several months ago, but now the problem is flaring up again.
There may not be an invasion of Donbas, but at least 10,000 people have been killed from shelling over the years. Russia bears the blame for this as they refused the Donbas’s pleas to be a part of Russia. The Donbas has no Russian military base like Crimea, so Russia watches their own people get killed. How pathetic!
My point is this – the only way to resolve this problem is for Russia to invade and take over Ukraine. Lawsuits, diplomacy, and complaints are a waste of time. That has been proven over the last 8 years.
Russia does not want Ukraine to join it, just work fairly as in the past. From 2010 to 2014 Russia cooperated with the pro-Western Ukraine government. Now Kiev refuses to deal with the Donbas and if they advance their troops too far Russia will “invade”. Doing so now would not be acceptable to the “international community”. Russia prefers legality. Your pathetic sexual innuendo is childish and uncalled for. The “Woke West” with it 465 genders is NOT what Russia stands for.
First off, Ukraine was pro Russia until the US overthrew the government and installed its own. I know Russia prefers legality, but that’s not a realistic approach when dealing with the West. The West has no regard for international law or its own las. Russia expecting Ukraine to deal fairly and legally is delusional. Kiev answers to Washington and will do as it is told. . The only way to make the Ukrainian problem go away is to invade, overthrow the government, execute neo-nazi gangs like the Azov battalion, and take over the country. Who cares if it’s unacceptable to the “international community” when the “international community” is lawless? Or they can waste another 8 years on useless diplomacy.
Sad but strikingle apparent.
Did you incude “Canine Partnered Cross Switchers?” In your 465 genders?????
Better safe than sorry!!!
Yes, I’m sure Russia will stick to diplomacy. Pissing in the wind must feel nice and warm.
Your option sounds the best one JP, therefor it will never even be mentioned!!! Good options lead to peace and prosperity. Bad options lead to war and debt.
You want Russia to be the violent greedy warmongering entity that the USA is??? Well, luckily for the world it is not. Neither is China.
This isn’t warmongering. It’s the only way to resolve the Ukrainian problem
I’ve suggested that in the past, but realistically it can’t happen unless Russia has a casus belli sufficient to overcome the negative image it would receive worldwide for unilaterally invading Ukraine. This is just how the game is played. Even the US usually doesn’t invade a country without manufacturing a reason – however bogus it is in reality. World opinion does count for something, even if it ends up not restraining the aggressive power for long.
Also I suspect Putin really doesn’t like putting Russia in difficulty absent a good reason, because he has to deal with Russian electorate opinion – and he cares about that more than the US President or the EU bureaucrats do about their electorates. But even they have to move cautiously to avoid being seen by their own electorates as corrupt – especially these days when pretty much everyone knows they are. States are always wary of ticking off the electorate *too much*. They don’t want to cause more trouble for themselves than necessary domestically.
This is what the USA does. Russia keeps to international law. It does NOT want Ukraine (who would??) just special status for Donbas arranged by agreement as the Minsk process demands but Kiev has not even tried in seven years.
If the US and Nato don’t care about international law Russia shouldn’t either. And if course Ukraine is not going to abide by Minsk because thus orders it not to. Diplomacy was foolish from the beginning. The Ukrainian problem will not go away until Russia takes overthrows the government and takes over the country. It was a part of Russia for over 1000 years.
“Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Moscow was ready to dispatch a negotiator to a neutral third country to discuss the proposals with the US “at any moment.”” I have an ominous feeling that Biden would send send none other than Victoria Nuland to “negotiate” from the American side.
We have recently seen her disastrous visit to Russia!!!
That unfortunately would be a given,supported by her neo con doppleganger, the karen donfried”all options are on the table.”
Donfried should try the suicide option, it suits her rhetoric.
She evidently is a real piece of work-I briefly tried to determine the content of the blink seance with nato in riga; she took calls repeating her “options”mantra over and over-she is former pres of German Marshall Fund, a vipers nest of neo cons; as such she is an unfortunate fit for noodleman.
It is almost comiical just jhow little America or even West as a whole do not understand Russia. Russia never makes decisions overnight. They are not “eager” to negotiate guarantees. They are not puppies eager to get master’s attention.
As they know perfectly well neither US nor NATO are “agreement-capable” as Putin once said — there are no expectations whatsoever.
So what is really going on? It is a firm first step notifying US and its dependency NATO of Russia’s intention to stop and then roll-back post Cold War incursion into former Soviet space,
How do they intend to go about it? We can know just one thing for certain — Russia is prepared to militarily engage to stop at first the flagrant violation of its air and sea space. Itherwise it woukd not have listed its conditions this clearly.
Russia has certainly came to a conclusion that US has insured that people of Ukraine never sgain have a chance to democratically support opposition. US and the entire West have bern mum over jailing of leading opposition candidates in Ukraine. Mum on shutting down media, and mum on abuses of language choice in people’s homes. Absolute silence on the shocking degradation of Ukrainian economy.
Ukraine has become US playground.
With this a reality, Russia is giving US some options in how to remedy this threat to Russia’s security. However, Russia is expecting a war it intends to win.
It has support that matters. Outside its Western European allies US has nobody in the region that can be convinced to attack Russia. This is to assume that Europe really wants war and their own countries becoming beligerants in the conflict.
The options US has are limited. Leave Ukraine, accept its military neutrality, and have Kiev implement Minsk agreement to Russia’s satisfaction, and release Ukraine from economic dependence on Europe. Otherwise, a war is coming.
Can US agree to any if that? Of course not. Russia will have to invade Ukraine and occupy regions where Russian soeakers are sbsolute majority. This is how it lioks like to me. And that would mean the entire area to river Dnyepr, and along Black Sea, including Odessa region.
There is nothing Ukrainian army can do to stop this. Army being filled with mostly Western Ukrainians will have no support among populace of Russian soeakers.
Russia will pay high price? What price? Economucally only SWIFT is the tgreat but Russia and China are ready for that with altenatives. Anyone trading with with both will have options.
The spectrr of war is haunting Europe. Lithuania that has taken on China over Taiwan -/ will have better things to worry about.
And so typical of Western thinking — the consolation is found in Russia and China having no formal military alliance! Their alliance is superior to NATO alliance. It is on so many levels. Food and manufacturing security, energy security, command level coordinatiin of military operation.ms. Military R&D, military component production distribution. We have no knowledge of the extent of their production capabilities.
We believe what we want to believe in.
We are still laughing it off.
There are no adults.
Bianca sure is really tuned in to this one. To me it all seems like dangerous posturing, possibly AI produced. Seeing how its a new technological step to set it on the diplomatic arena & problem spots, diplo-AI being a new endeavor, perhaps explains some of the less than stellar, & redolence of juvenile baiting behavior and rhetoric.
Very good recap of the situation.
There’re times when watching the Russia-US interplay that it all smacks of theater.
Russia has long ago realized that the US doesn’t abide by treaties or other facsimiles. The UN or the ICC have no jurisdictional relevance.
The US or NATO will continue down the preferred geostrategic tracks that go without mentioning until Russia, China, and Iran have had enough and initiate a military engagement. Lacking that compulsion, one can assume that the dollar’s demise and the collateral damage is what they’re “planning” on.
While we can’t be aware of background machinations, if Russia cancels their energy exports to America, some policies would become more believable or tenable.
All I can say is WTF?? Russia “eager.” I would say that on almost all factors, military, energy, domestic security, it is in the driver’s seat.
Take a look at the “West:” us is virtually ungovernable and ungoverned, eu/nato is a mess and dysfunctional across the board.
And Russia is ‘eager’ to negotiate with these clowns? Please point out who in the us or nato has the authority and the common sense to negotiate an agreement that would stick. It sure as hell is not biden or the vipers nest of neo cons in state dept; and it sure as hell is not anyone in eu/nato with the baltics, poland, ukraine screeching about the “impending” (sic) Russian invasion.
All I can say is good luck to the Russian negotiators, if and when they do sit down, as their historical patience with these clowns will be sorely tested.
To quote Percival Rose of the CW TV show “Nikita” yet again: “That ain’t gonna happen.”
Russia is pushing this with urgency because their intelligence apparatus has told them that Ukraine will start a war with Russia in January or February under the influence of the CIA and the neocons. That’s the only explanation for the Russian urgency.
But Russia won’t get what it hopes for because the West doesn’t want it and won’t agree to it. Russia will have to fall back on whatever plans they’ve made to insure their security without the West’s cooperation. Which means really invading Ukraine (and maybe Georgia) at some point to take both off the table from NATO.
If the AP is right, that could be good news. The main thing is to stop the disastrous Mr NATO, Jens Stoltenberg with his monstrous NO to every suggestion except violence.