MOSCA – It is clear how little the Kremlin believes in peace negotiations with Ukraine if, on the same day it delivers a draft agreement to Kiev, it tests the Sarmat ICBM for the first time. “An unparalleled weapon”, Russian President Vladimir Putin called it. Fifth generation, very long range, able to “cleverly overcome all modern anti-aircraft systems”, launched from Plesetsk, in the Arkhangelsk region, north-west of the country, Sarmat hit a target over 5 thousand kilometers away in the Kura range, Kamchatka Peninsula, Russian Far East.
According to the Defense, it will enter the “Russian strategic forces”, the forces designed to intervene in the event of a nuclear war. Although the Pentagon assures us that it is a “routine” test, that the test does not pose a “threat” to the United States or its allies, which Moscow had “properly informed” in compliance with its obligations under the nuclear treaties and that so it was not a “surprise” for the US Department of Defense, what matters is the message. And Putin doesn’t get around it: “It is truly a unique weapon that will enhance the military potential of our armed forces, keep Russia safe from external threats, and make those who try to threaten our country think twice with savage rhetoric and aggressive “.
“I emphasize that only nationally manufactured assemblies, components and parts were used for the realization of Sarmat”, added the Kremlin leader who a few hours earlier, during a video-link meeting on the development of the domestic metallurgical industry, was returned to the sanctions defining them “contrary to the principles of the WTO” and instructing the government to elaborate “an updated strategy” by 1 June. “Such a rough and short-sighted policy will have a negative impact on the economies of European countries”, however, Putin reiterated, who yesterday wanted to send out various signals. First of all by presiding at the meeting of the board of the non-profit organization “Russia-Land of Opportunities” in the Catherine Hall of the Kremlin, the same organization that organizes the “Leader of Russia” competition to train the leaders of tomorrow.
The opportunity for an exchange with Diana Krasovskaya, 12, originally from Lugansk, who grew up in Sevastopol, Crimea, after the start of the conflict in Donbass in 2014. “You know, I still don’t like balloons because they explode in I remember how the siren howled and people started running, “the girl told the president, before reading him a poem. Giving the Kremlin leader the pretext to compare “changes for the worse” in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic with “life in Crimea”. “It was precisely the tragedy in the Donbass that forced Russia to start this military operation. The aim is to help the people of the Donbass” so that life there too “changes for the better as it happened to you in Sevastopol”. No yielding, no retreat.
“The ball is in the Ukrainian field. We await an answer”, said his spokesman Dmitrij Peskov, announcing that he had delivered a “draft” of a document “which includes absolutely clear wording”. “I have not seen any drafts, nothing has been passed to us. Peskov says that the ball is ours but we play football in two. I think he is playing alone and I think we need more seriousness”, the Ukrainian president then replied. Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference in Kiev with the President of the European Council Charles Michel. Moscow’s proposals are unlikely to re-launch the negotiation if it is true, as explained by the spokeswoman of the Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, who continue to ask for the neutrality of Ukraine, the “recognition of the current territorial realities, including the belonging of Crimea to Russia. and the independence of the Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk “. Likewise, the readiness reaffirmed by Israel to host a summit between Putin and Zelensky or the mediation proposal of the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in two letters to their respective leaders seems vain.