"Military-technical retaliation": Putin intensifies threats against the West
Created: 12/22/2021, 09:33 AM
By: Markus Hofstetter
Russia is making unacceptable demands on NATO.
President Putin is fueling the conflict with his threats.
Expert fears war.
Moscow - There is a huge crunch between Russia and the West.
For months, NATO and the EU have been criticizing a troop deployment by Russia near the border with Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin opposes this and calls for an end to the eastward expansion of the Western military alliance.
Last week Moscow made its demands more concrete.
The Russian Foreign Ministry published a text with nine individual articles, from which it emerges that the NATO states should undertake to refrain from military action in the territory of Ukraine and other states in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia.
Putin intensifies threats against the West: Moscow makes maximum demands
In the document, Russia also demands that NATO withdraw its military infrastructure to the 1997 positions. All of Eastern Europe would be affected, up to the German-Polish Oder-Neisse border. This would deprive NATO members who previously belonged to the Warsaw Pact of the support and protection of Western NATO partners. These include Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In addition, the Western alliance was asked directly to renounce Ukraine's NATO membership.
In the document, Russia also suggests that all sides refrain from deploying short and medium-range missiles at points that could pose a threat to potential signatories.
This is to be assessed positively, since it could revitalize the INF treaty on the ban of nuclear medium-range missiles, which was terminated by the USA and Russia.
Putin intensifies threats against the West: "There will be war"
The Russian maximum demands amazed the experts. According to information from
FR.de
, the Russian opposition political scientist Gleb Pawlowski
speaks
of a “banausal ultimatum”. Andrej Baklizki, an expert on international politics, said: "Nobody has any illusions that one cannot describe almost a quarter of a century of mutual relations in such a short time." be.
According to
FR.de,
Gleb Pawlowski
even
expects
a military escalation, for example in relation to Ukraine.
“There will be war, absolutely, maybe just a small war.” Only a summit meeting between US President Joe Biden and Putin or other direct contacts between the two could prevent that.
Putin threatens to take “appropriate military-technical retaliatory measures” ”(archive photo) © Alexei Nikolsky / dpa / picture alliance
Putin intensifies threats against the West: accusation of "clearly aggressive stance"
This assessment seems to be proving to be true.
Because Putin has fueled the conflict over Ukraine with additional threats.
If the West does not give up its "clearly aggressive stance", "we will take the appropriate military-technical retaliation," said Putin
on Tuesday (December 21) at a meeting with representatives of the Russian army and the Ministry of Defense in Moscow , according to the
afp .
NATO's answer to the Russian demands is still pending.
From Brussels diplomatic circles, however, it was already said on Friday that no real willingness to compromise was expected from Russia, and neither was there any such thing on the part of NATO.
Putin intensifies threats against the West: USA warns travelers to Ukraine of increasing threat
But it is already clear that some of the Kremlin's demands are unacceptable to the alliance.
It is therefore ruled out that Russia could openly be promised not to accept Ukraine.
Stoltenberg had emphasized this again and again recently.
"NATO's relationship with Ukraine is determined by the 30 NATO allies and Ukraine and by no one else," said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently at a press conference with the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
The USA seems to fear an escalation of the situation.
Because the US State Department warns travelers to Ukraine of "the increasing threat from Russia".
Anyone planning a trip to Ukraine should reconsider this, it said in the travel advice on Monday.