Russia ‘ready to work’ with West
Putin holds talks with German chancellor on de-escalating tensions over Ukraine
The United States’ claims about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb 16 turned out to be farcical: Russia seeks more dialogue, to which the US and European countries seem to agree, and Ukraine seeks peace.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Moscow on Feb 15 that he is “ready to work” with the West on deescalating tensions, the latest signal that the prospect of war with Ukraine could be receding.
The first face-to-face meeting of the two leaders since Scholz took office lasted slightly over three hours and received high marks from both leaders. Putin noted its businesslike atmosphere, while Scholz said not a single subject was omitted by them.
The meeting came hours after Russia announced it was beginning to pull back some of its 160,000 troops from the border with Ukraine following the end of military drills.
Days earlier, the US and its allies raised the alarm over concerns that Russia might invade Ukraine at any moment, with several countries ordering their citizens to leave and evacuating their embassies in Kyiv.
After days of warnings from Western powers led by the US that a war was “imminent” in Ukraine because Russia would invade the country “any day” — with the US even predicting Feb 16 as the date of a possible Russian “invasion” — the situation unfolded in a different way on Feb 15, when Moscow announced that some of its troops on the countries’ border had started pulling back after drills.
On Feb 16, Ukrainian Defense Minister Olexiy Reznikov said the situation on the Ukrainian borders remains stable. The situation further demonstrated how manipulatively intended the US’ “apocalyptic” war predictions were. Actually, all the fears and worries about a military conflict in Europe have been whipped up by Washington which is orchestrating a “disinformation campaign”.
Putin said at a news conference following his meeting with Scholz that Russia does not want war, and that is why it submitted proposals on security guarantees in Europe and hopes that their key points will be taken into account during negotiations.
“We are ready to work further together. We are ready to go down the negotiations track,” he said.
Putin emphasized that Russia “cannot turn a blind eye” to how Washington and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization “freely interpret” the principle of indivisibility of security — that no country should strengthen its security at the expense of others.
In response to a question about Moscow’s further steps in the Ukraine situation, Putin said the steps will “follow a plan”. He said the plan will be shaped based on “the actual situation on the ground”, and that will depend not only on Russia.
Speaking of the prospects to continue the dialogue between Russia and the West, Scholz told reporters the West was very concerned over the accumulation of Russian troops near Ukraine’s border, but added, “I expressly agree that the diplomatic options are far from exhausted.”
He added that Russia’s withdrawal of some troops is “a good sign”, saying “we hope that more follow”.
Scholz’s meeting with Putin came after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv the previous day.
“For Europeans, it is clear that lasting security cannot be achieved against Russia but only with Russia,” the German chancellor told reporters.
US President Joe Biden said on Feb 15 that there was still time to resolve the Ukraine crisis through diplomacy, but he warned that sanctions are “ready to go” if Russian troops invade the country.
In addition, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a phone conversation on Feb 15.
According to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov emphasized the necessity of continuing efforts, as agreed upon by Putin and Biden, to cooperate on the security proposals submitted by Russia to the US and NATO.
Ukraine celebrated Feb 16 as the national Day of Unity amid the crisis in the country.
In a televised address to the nation, Zelensky said that Ukrainians are different, but they all are united by the desire to live in peace, happiness and with their loved ones.
“We are all united by one desire: to live in peace, happily, as one family, with children, with parents. And we have every right to all this. Because we are at home, we are in Ukraine,” Zelensky said.