The West wants to buy time in Ukraine by threatening Russia with a complete severance of relations, - expert
Moscow - Simferopol, April 02 (Navigator, Mikhail Stamm) - If the heads of the foreign affairs departments John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov finally agreed on something, agreeing on Russian demands for the federalization of Ukraine and guarantees for the security of the Russian-speaking population, it will be very difficult for Kyiv not to recognize the results of these negotiations .
This is the opinion of Financial Times columnist Gideon Rakhman, whose article is published today by Vedomosti.
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Kerry’s statement about the impossibility of agreements on Ukraine without her participation was made as a result of direct negotiations with Russia, in which representatives of Kyiv did not participate, Rahman regrets.
“The harsh reality is that in the current circumstances, both the West and Ukraine are interested in negotiations with Russia,” he states.
After all, thousands of Russian troops are concentrated on the eastern borders of Ukraine, and the United States and the EU have made it clear that they are not going to fight for Ukraine.
“The West’s refusal to negotiate with Moscow under these conditions would be interpreted as a demonstration of indifference rather than strength,” Rahman writes. “It might even encourage Russian military intervention.”
Now Russia would like the West to recognize the annexation of Crimea and continue negotiations with it about the rest of Ukraine, the author of the article believes. In his opinion, the West should not agree to this.
The EU and the US must make it clear that any move by the Russian military in Eastern Ukraine will lead to a complete severance of the West's economic relations with Russia. Rakhman believes that the federalization of Ukraine, guarantees for the Russian-speaking population, guarantees of Ukraine’s non-alignment with NATO, and its non-entry into relations with the EU that would harm Russia’s economic interests - all this can be discussed with Moscow. But only so that Ukraine could gain time.
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