Biden and Putin deliver dueling fiery speeches on Ukraine
WARSAW — The leaders of the United States and Russia delivered blistering, contradictory addresses in Eastern Europe on Tuesday, showcasing starkly opposing worldviews as they spoke on the eve of the first anniversary of a Ukraine war that has set the two superpowers increasingly at odds...
The body language of bipolar disorder.
Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
If American intelligence is right and China really is about to arm Rus XDsia in its genocidal war against Ukraine, we may be entering a new era in international relations. An even more dangerous one? That remains to be seen.
In effect, Chinese military support for Russia would finally turn the Ukrainian conflict into a proxy war between two hostile blocs, with a third trying to stay out of the fray. The US, the European Union and the geopolitical “West” — from Canada to Japan and Australia — would be supplying Kyiv. China, Iran, North Korea, Belarus and a few other rogues — let’s call them the “East” — would be helping Moscow."
By Guy Faulconbridge
MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered a warning to the West over Ukraine by suspending a landmark nuclear arms control treaty, announcing that new strategic systems had been put on combat duty, and threatening to resume nuclear tests.
Nearly a year after ordering an invasion that has triggered the biggest confrontation with the West in six decades, Putin said Russia would achieve its aims and accused the West of trying to destroy it.
Alleging that the United States was turning the war into a global conflict, Putin said Russia was suspending participation in the New START treaty, its last major arms control treaty with Washington.
Signed by then-U.S. president Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in 2010, the treaty caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the countries can deploy.
Due to expire in 2026, it allows each country to physically check the other's nuclear arsenal, although tensions over Ukraine had already brought inspections to a halt.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Putin's move "deeply unfortunate and irresponsible". NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said it made the world a more dangerous place, and urged Putin to reconsider.
The Russian leader said, without citing evidence, that some in Washington were considering breaking a moratorium on nuclear testing.
"... if the United States conducts tests, then we will. No one should have dangerous illusions that global strategic parity can be destroyed," Putin said.
"A week ago, I signed a decree on putting new ground-based strategic systems on combat duty."
It was not immediately clear which systems he meant.
Putin said Ukraine had sought to strike a facility deep inside Russia where it keeps nuclear bombers, a reference to the Engels air base.
NUCLEAR ARSENAL
Russia and the United States together hold 90% of the world's nuclear warheads.
The New START Treaty limited each side to 1,550 warheads on deployed missile launchers and heavy bombers. Both sides met the central limits by 2018.
Russia's foreign ministry said later on Tuesday that Moscow intended to continue abiding by the restrictions outlined in the treaty on the number of warheads it could have deployed.
Putin, who has over the past year repeatedly hinted that Russia could use a nuclear weapon if threatened, was in effect saying that he could dismantle the architecture of nuclear arms control unless the West backs off in Ukraine.
Putin said the conflict had been forced on Russia, particularly by NATO's eastward expansion since the Cold War.
"The people of Ukraine have become the hostage of the Kyiv regime and its Western overlords, who have effectively occupied this country in the political, military and economic sense," he said.
Kyiv and Western leaders such as U.S. President Joe Biden, who visited the Ukrainian capital on Monday, reject that narrative as an unfounded pretext for a land grab, and say Putin must be made to lose his gamble on invasion.
Russian forces have suffered three major battlefield reverses but still control around a fifth of Ukraine. Tens of thousands of men have been killed on both sides.
Speaking for an hour and 45 minutes below a large two-headed Russian eagle crest, and flanked by eight tricolour Russian flags, Putin vowed that Moscow would achieve its aims in Ukraine and thwart the U.S.-led NATO alliance in the process.
"They intend to transform a local conflict into a phase of global confrontation," he said. "This is exactly how we understand it all and we will react accordingly, because in this case we are talking about the existence of our country."
The United States says it is concerned Beijing may be considering supplying weapons to Russia, a step that might transform the war into a confrontation between Russia and China on the one side and Ukraine and NATO on the other.
China, whose top diplomat Wang Yi visited Moscow on Tuesday, has dismissed these concerns and cautioned against any nuclear escalation, while reaffirming a new, wide-ranging alliance with Russia.
Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Putin's powerful Security Council, told Wang that China was a top priority for Russian foreign policy and that the two countries must stick together against the West, Russian state news agencies reported.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Osborn, Nick Macfie and Kevin Liffey)
[
President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was not aware of the specifics of China's peace plan it wants to present on Feb. 24, adding that he is counting on the support of the Ukrainian peace formula, the European Pravda reported.
"It seems to me that our document, our peace formula, which has already been backed by a large number of states, and we expect further support for it... I think it is important to have one position," Zelensky said during a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during her visit to Kyiv on Feb. 21.
The UN General Assembly will hold a vote on a resolution regarding the Ukrainian peace formula on Feb. 23, according to Ukraine's president.
Zelensky emphasized that he "has not officially seen any document (from China) disclosing the details of its peace plan.
"We are interested in all states – European, worldwide, certainly India, Africa, China – being involved in ending this war, in supporting our, I think, fair formula for peace," Zelensky said.
At the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 18, China's top diplomat Wang Yi said that his country would launch its peace initiative on the one-year anniversary of Russia's all-out war on Feb. 24, as quoted by the Guardian.
According to Wang, this plan will underline the need to respect the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the UN Charter, considering the security interests of all countries, including Russia.
Western officials have expressed skepticism about Bejing's announced peace plan.
According to multiple reports, U.S. officials are concerned that China might consider supplying Moscow with "lethal support," such as weaponry.
This story originally appeared in The Kyiv Independent
"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a blow to China's plan to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday, just days before their war reached its one-year mark.
Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to deliver a "peace speech" before the United Nations on Friday—exactly one year after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Ukraine invasion. During his speech, he is expected to propose a plan to reach peace between the two countries, which continue to fight for control over eastern Ukrainian territory.
However, Xi's plan appears to lack support from Zelensky.
During a press conference on Tuesday, the Ukrainian president appeared to dismiss any potential peace plan from Xi, according to Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda.
Instead, he pointed to his own peace plan, which the U.N. General Assembly is set Thursday to vote on.
"It seems to me that our document, our 'peace formula,' which has already been supported by a large number of states and we expect that they will support it on the 23rd, when there will be a meeting of the U.N. and a vote on the corresponding resolution," he said, adding that he believes it is important to "have one position" on the matter.
Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said during a Tuesday press conference that Zelensky's peace proposal "remains a top priority." He said top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi shared "some elements" of their plan with him, but that Ukraine has not yet seen the full plan.
How Do China, Ukraine's Peace Deals Differ?
Among the hallmarks of Zelensky's sweeping 10-point peace plan are the restoration of Ukraine's territory, the withdrawal of Russian troops from all of Ukraine and a special tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes.
Zelensky's plan also includes measures to guarantee nuclear safety, ensure the export of Ukrainian grain, release all war prisoners, prevent ecocide and future conflict, and confirm the end of the war with a signed document.
China, on the other hand, has not publicly revealed its plan. Interfax Ukraine, citing Bloomberg, reported that Xi's plan could include a ceasefire. It could also include a stop on the Western supply of weapons to Ukraine that has bolstered defense efforts, which is not mentioned by Zelensky's plan.
Wang, addressing the Munich Security Conference, also noted the need to respect territorial integrity, according to The Guardian.
Russia has opposed Zelensky's plan, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in December rejecting the peace proposal based on conditions of troop withdrawal, reparations and an international tribunal.
Newsweek reached out to China's international press center for comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment