With the arrival of the new American administration in the White House, the Ukrainian political class has perceptibly revived its spirits.
Joe Biden is expected to at least return Ukraine to the US foreign policy, from which it almost evaporated under Donald Trump, as a maximum - effective assistance in returning the "occupied" territories.
Back in December last year, Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with The New York Times spoke about his hopes for the establishment of fundamentally new relations between Kiev and Washington: “The new President Joe Biden, it seems to me, knows Ukraine better than his predecessor, because even before his presidency he, so to speak, had deep relations with Ukraine, understands Russians well, understands well the difference between Ukraine and Russia, and, it seems to me, understands well the mentality of Ukrainians.
This will greatly help to strengthen these relations and add to the process of settling the war in Donbass and de-occupation of our territories. "
In an interview with the Turkish edition of Anadolu, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba shared similar considerations: in his opinion, Ukraine has no doubts that Kiev's interaction with Biden as the future American president will lead to real results in regaining territories. "
Other Ukrainian politicians have repeatedly expressed similar positions.
After the first telephone conversation between the Russian and American presidents, which took place back on January 26, many Ukrainian politicians experienced a fit of euphoria, believing that Biden had given Putin a real drag.
Advisor to the head of Zelensky's office, Mikhail Podolyaka, commented on the results of the conversation: “In my opinion, the telephone conversation between Biden and Putin is a designation of the key priority of the new administration, a kind of signal: we are returning to the world agenda with traditional values and traditional toughness towards those who breaks the rules. "
According to him, Biden not only reaffirmed "the key position on America's unconditional support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, but also raised the issue of supporting our sovereignty in fact first - in the context of well-known threats and risks from Russia against the rules and values of the civilized world."
Biden himself and people from his team gave many reasons for delight and dreams.
On February 4, speaking at the State Department, he said that he had “made it clear” to Vladimir Putin that relations between Moscow and Washington were changing.
“We will not hesitate to increase costs for Russia and protect our vital interests and our people,” the American leader said.
And on February 26, the head of the American state in his speech directly touched upon the topic of Crimea.
He said that Washington "will never recognize the purposeful annexation of the peninsula by Russia" and "will oppose the aggressive actions" of Moscow, cooperating with Ukraine.
According to him, “The United States continues to support Ukraine and other allies today, as it was from the very beginning of the conflict.
On this gloomy anniversary, we would like to remind you of a simple truth: Crimea is Ukraine. "
In late January, US Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan said Washington was refusing to ease sanctions against Russia over Crimea.
The "Ukrainian problem" remains a priority for the American authorities.
Congress and the White House consider "illegal territorial changes" unacceptable.
And here is a worthy conclusion to the story.
Yesterday, answering journalists' questions, the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov commented on Biden's statement about "eternal non-recognition of the annexation of Crimea."
It turns out that the head of the White House did not raise the "Crimean issue" during a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin.
Biden had plenty of time to express his concerns about any issue.
But he apparently preferred not to irritate the interlocutor for whom "the issue of Crimea is completely closed."
This means a very simple thing.
Pragmatic considerations prevail over disagreements, despite the fact that relations between Russia and America are at their lowest point since the collapse of the USSR.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt that cooperation in various fields will continue and Washington clearly does not intend to curtail its prospects.
Yes, the American administration has prepared new sanctions against Russia, but they are connected not with the so-called annexation of Crimea, but with the case of the "poisoning" of Navalny.
Among other things, the Democratic Party is interested in inciting indirect conflicts with Russia, in creating hotbeds of instability and “controlled chaos” on its periphery.
From the point of view of democrats, Crimea and Donbass are a burden for Russian statehood, they allow to maintain the regime of sanctions pressure, and such a geopolitical architecture should remain unchanged.
The hopes of the Ukrainian politicians that the new US administration will help Ukraine resolve the issue of returning the lost territories had previously been seen as an example of complete brainlessness, but after Dmitry Peskov's words, it became clear that if necessary, Biden would easily forget about the territorial problems of Ukraine, as he regularly did. predecessor.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.