The Russian President simply wants the Ukraine to be ‘his’….
That is not all….
He wants no Western troop’s there and certainly no NATO hook-up from the Ukraine or in any other country Russia ‘owned’…..
It would appear he is trying to re-event the old Soviet Union……
One could think that the Russian President is testing and American President that he saw evacuate troops from Afghanistan and is preoccupied with dealing with China….
But the latest announcement by the Kremlin underscores its confrontation with the West over Ukraine, which Russia views as part of its political orbit.
Russia published two lists of demands — to Washington and NATO — the latter calling for the removal of all NATO military infrastructure installed in Eastern European countries after 1997, effectively seeking to rework the consequences of the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 that left Russia weakened for years.
The demands on NATO would also prevent the alliance carrying out any military activity outside its territory in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan….
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“Moscow has not only been asking for things it cannot get, but in a way they know will ensure they cannot attain them. Serious negotiations are done behind closed doors. Something is very wrong with this picture,” tweeted military analyst Michael Kofman, of the CNA security think tank, adding that Russia’s mounting demands “should make one pessimistic about the trajectory.”…
Putin Ukraine demands update…….
Putin Warns Biden of ‘Complete Rupture’ Relationship
“President Vladimir Putin warned President Biden on Thursday that any economic sanctions imposed on Russia if it were to take new military action against Ukraine would result in a ‘complete rupture’ of relations between the two nuclear superpowers,” the New York Times reports.
“A 50-minute phone call that Mr. Putin requested, and which both sides described as businesslike, ended without clarity about Mr. Putin’s intentions.”
Washington Post: “Russian officials see a time frame of just weeks for Biden to agree to demands that NATO has long refused, including effectively allowing Russia to veto the security decisions of Ukraine and other nations in the region. The White House has rejected any such bans on NATO membership out of hand, saying all sovereign nations should retain the right to make decisions about their own security.”
A hard drop of economic sanction on Russia would be a VERY tough situation for the Russian President to have to deal with….
The question is could the Western nations actually follow thru on this?
Biden is not a ‘troops ‘ guy we know…But standing by on this would be a political and diplomatic disaster for him