Russia will help history put everything in its place in Ukraine, by Andrey Rezchikov for VZGLYAD. 12.19.2023.
At an extended meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Defense, Vladimir Putin outlined the priorities in Russia’s foreign policy strategy. Its key features are sovereignty, protecting the territorial integrity of the country and achieving a balance of power in the world. All this is impossible without ending the Ukrainian crisis. Putin recalled that countries neighboring Ukraine would like to return their former territories, which are now controlled by Kyiv. Do these words contain prerequisites for new scenarios for resolving the Ukrainian issue?
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held an extended meeting of the Defense Ministry board at the National Defense Management Center of the Russian Federation. In his speech, he paid great attention to foreign policy, noting that the United States has solved its current problems by “tearing off,” as they believe, Ukraine, and breaking off Russia’s relations with Europe.
“We simply couldn’t behave differently - or we had to hand over everything and watch them chomping, eating everything that was ours, originally Russian. We couldn’t do this, and they understood that we couldn’t do it, but they did it on purpose. They deliberately dragged us and Europe into this conflict, achieved their goals in this sense - they “took away” Russia and Europe, and now they are also shifting the burden of financial responsibility and payments onto Europe,” Putin said.
According to him, “the weak-willed, spineless generation of today’s politicians in Europe cannot resist this, bearing in mind the colossal dependence in the media, in the economy, in politics.” “There, you know, wherever you point your finger, at some major media outlet in Europe, the final beneficiary is some American foundation, three or four years later. Everything is there, everything is overseas. And this influences political life. From a young age, from their student days, the special services “acquire” their supporters there, we know this, and they work with them, dragging them to the political Olympus of European countries,” Putin said.
During the board meeting, a lot was said about the progress of the special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine. The head of state noted that the only guarantor of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine was Russia. “When Russia created the Soviet Union, it simply handed over, together with its population, vast historical territories, Russian ones, enormous potential, and invested colossal resources in this entire territory,” Putin recalled.
Ukraine received Western lands thanks to Stalin's decision after World War II. “He gave away part of the Polish lands, Lviv and so on, several large regions - 10 million people live there. In order not to offend the Poles, he compensated for their losses at the expense of Germany: he gave the eastern lands to Germany, the Danzig corridor, and Danzig itself. He took some from Romania, some from Hungary - he gave everything there, to Ukraine,” the president said.
The Russian leader noted that the people “who live there - many, in any case, I know this for sure, 100 percent - they want to return to their historical homeland.” “And those countries that lost these territories, primarily Poland, are dreaming of returning them,” the head of state added.
Only Russia, Putin believes, could be the guarantor of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. “If they don’t want to, they don’t need to. History will put everything in its place. We will not interfere, but we will not give up ours. This is what everyone should understand - both in Ukraine, those who are aggressive towards Russia, and in Europe, and in the USA. If they want to negotiate, let them negotiate. But only we will do this based on our interests,” the president said.
Regarding the progress of the special military operation, Putin said that Ukraine was suffering heavy losses and had largely squandered its reserves in an attempt to show the West the results of the counter-offensive.
In turn, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu named the exact losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) - since the beginning of the special operation they exceeded 383 thousand military personnel killed and wounded, 14 thousand tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 553 aircraft and 259 helicopters, 8.5 thousand field artillery guns and MLRS. And since the beginning of the “counter-offensive”, the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have exceeded 159 thousand military personnel, 121 aircraft, 766 tanks.
According to Shoigu, Ukraine received $203 billion from external sponsors, which is 30 billion more than its GDP. “In fact, this is a bankrupt country, since a significant part of these funds are loans that must be repaid,” the minister said.
Experts agree that the current expanded board of the Ministry of Defense has largely shown what Russia’s military strategy and foreign policy will be like in the coming years. “Some of what was said at the board is the vector of development of our foreign policy, but in essence it is the results of the year, key directions for the development of the army and navy, as well as tasks for the near future,” notes Alexander Asafov, political scientist, member of the Public Chamber of Moscow.
From what was said at the board meeting, it follows that the meaning of the vector of Russian foreign and military policy is sovereignty, protection of territorial integrity and the balance of power in the world, the speaker emphasized. “This is the main task facing the security bloc and the Ministry of Defense in particular. It is important to discuss this in this format so that citizens understand exactly how the state protects us,” the political scientist emphasized.
The interlocutor recalled that at extended meetings of the Board of the Ministry of Defense, the president always speaks not only “about our plans and achievements,” but also finds out whether “shortcomings have been eliminated.” “The President gets very deep into the details. He collects information not only from the Ministry of Defense, but also from military officers and volunteers too. Putin demands that the military respond to criticism and all civil initiatives,” Asafov explained.
“The Army, Navy and Air Force control the situation not only in the zone of a special military operation, but also ensure our sovereignty and provide opportunities for the economic development of our country. It is obvious that the combat capabilities of the Russian Armed Forces are increasing, and this percentage will only increase,” adds Pavel Danilin, director of the Center for Political Analysis and Social Research, associate professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.
No less important, the political scientist said, is that the president “ensures coordination of activities between all forces, means and structures involved in the Northern Military District.” “Since 2008, army reform has been carried out. And today, in a number of areas, the level of modern weapons in strategic forces is above 91%, and in conventional forces - above 75%. This is a unique situation, this has never happened in the history of the country,” the specialist emphasized.
As for the president’s words about Poland and other European countries that would like to return their territories, what was said can be viewed “in two ways,” including as a readiness to divide Ukraine with neighboring countries, the expert believes. “Whoever wants, hears as he wants. But in general, I think we won’t mind if they go for it. But I wouldn’t say directly that such a call was made,” the political scientist explained. The expert recalled that
Russia’s goal is not to destroy Ukraine as a state, but to recognize the former USSR as Moscow’s zone of interests and refuse to create US and NATO military bases there.
Asafov agrees that Russia has its own goals and objectives in the Northern Military District, “we are moving toward them regardless of the desire or reluctance of other countries.” However, he called it a “bold assumption” that it is possible to conclude from what was said at the board that Moscow is ready to discuss the territorial division of Ukraine with neighboring countries.
“The actions that the Kiev regime is carrying out on the line of combat contact with the support of the West are just an instrument, and not at all the subjective activity of Kyiv. Here it is important to understand that Russia’s security depends on new agreements on the contours of common security not only in the European space, but in the world in general. Therefore, resolving the Ukrainian crisis is impossible without creating a new security system,” Asafov believes.
https://vz.ru/politics/2023/12/19/1245147.html
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