The former Soviet republic has been the scene since 2014 of a conflict between the central authorities and the two pro-Russian separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, in the Donbass region. The hostilities, which began after the Russian annexation of Crimea, resulted in over 13,000 deaths.
Moscow has repeatedly denied that it is preparing an invasion and has accused the West of destabilizing actions in the Black Sea, crossed several times in recent months by US and British warships. Oleksii Reznikov, Kiev’s defense minister, expressed his belief that Russia is preparing a large-scale offensive for January. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg believes the Kremlin’s intentions are unclear at the moment.
So Biden said last Friday that the US is preparing “a set of dissuasive initiatives” to make “very, very difficult for Putin to do what it is feared he may do”. The White House tenant did not provide further details but there is certainly a tightening of sanctions coordinated with European partners on the table. The Russian president, for his part, is asking for “security guarantees”, that is, that the expansion of NATO to the East does not come to encompass Ukraine and Georgia.
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