It has been a wild December with Russia threatening war with Ukraine and amassing a large force at their border. It looked like war was imminent. Russia put out a list of demands that were by no means reasonable. They wanted to dictate which countries could be a part of NATO and claimed that if their demands were not met there would be consequences. It was looking like we were about to be dragged into a war due to our obligation to NATO, that is until this past Thursday when Russia withdrew 10k troops and claimed we had buckled.
“Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the West on Thursday to “immediately” meet Russia’s demand for security guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine, saying the U.S. is “on the threshold of our home.”
Speaking during a marathon annual news conference, the Russian leader welcomed talks with the U.S., which he said are set to start in Geneva next month, as a “positive” move, but warned that Moscow expects the discussion to produce quick results.
“We have clearly and precisely let them know that any further NATO expansion eastward is unacceptable,” Putin said.
Last week, Moscow submitted draft security documents demanding that NATO deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and roll back the alliance’s military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe. A key principle of the alliance is that membership is open to any qualifying country.
“Is it us who are putting missiles near the U.S. borders?” Putin said angrily. “No, it’s the U.S. who came to our home with its missiles, it’s already on the threshold of our home. Is it some excessive demand not to place any strike weapons systems near our home?”
Asked Thursday if he could provide a guarantee that Russia will not invade Ukraine, Putin snapped in response: “It’s you who must give us guarantees and give them immediately, now, and not have idle talk about it for decades.”
“How would the Americans respond if we put our missiles on the U.S. borders with Canada or Mexico?” he exclaimed.
The Russian leader charged during his news conference that the West had “swindled, blatantly cheated” Moscow by offering verbal pledges in the 1990s not to expand NATO’s presence east and then enlarging to incorporate former Soviet bloc countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet republics in the Baltics.
“They said they wouldn’t expand, and then they did expand,” he said. “They said there would be equal guarantees for all, but there is no equal security. It seems to me sometimes that we live in different worlds.”
Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999, followed in 2004 by Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In subsequent years, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia also joined, bringing NATO’s membership to 30 nations.
But something seems to have happened behind closed doors this past Thursday and Russia has suddenly decided to withdraw 10k troops. They, of course, are claiming they were just training, not threatening Ukraine with invasion…
“Tensions reached a boiling point on Wednesday when President Vladimir Putin said Russia would take “appropriate retaliatory” military steps in response to what he called the West’s “aggressive stance”.
But he lowered the volume the next day, saying he had seen a “positive” reaction from the United States to Russia’s security proposals and said talks would take place next month.
A senior US official has said Washington was “ready to engage in diplomacy as soon as early January”, both bilaterally and through “multiple channels”.
On Saturday, a German government official said Moscow and Berlin had agreed to a meeting in “early January.””
You have to wonder what this positive reaction was. But at least we dodged war for this year with Russia.
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