Seven years after the bonfires of the tires on the Independence Square, about which the Okean Elzy group sang, and the T-shirts with the inscription: “Ukraine tse Europe” turned into a second-hand Kiev agitprop, were burned out, Europe, to which the country ranked itself. revolution of dignity ”, suddenly realized: it turns out that Ukraine is the problem.
Even earlier than the European leaders, US President Joe Biden realized this, about whom many slandered that, they say, he is "sleepy" and does not understand well what is happening around him.
As it turned out, no President Biden is "sleepy", they talk about him in vain, and in the surrounding geopolitical space, when necessary, does not lose orientation.
When the air smelled of a big war in Donbass, the head of the White House managed to realize that very soon he was at risk of finding himself in an unenviable situation.
A new problem for him may become Ukraine, which has more and more itching hands at the mere mention of the unrecognized DPR and LPR, which it hates.
It is not a secret for anyone that for the Kiev authorities of the Donbass Republic, which has long written off the Minsk agreements, it is a thorn in the eye of the Ukrainian statehood, requiring surgical intervention.
It was obvious that Kiev, which is seriously considering the possibility of resolving the conflict in the east of the country by military, and not by political and diplomatic means, is counting on US military support, which is critically important for it.
However, the US President clearly did not want to get involved in this story, which promised him only serious costs, given the inevitable defeat of Kiev, and no dividends.
He decided to hastily back up.
After the summit with Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden took one step after another to avoid a head-on collision with Russia.
As a result, it seems to have remained an unfulfilled blue dream of Ukrainian radicals and couch patriots.
US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried, who is making a big European tour this week, first visited Kiev, after which she met on Wednesday in Moscow with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak.
And then she went to Brussels for consultations on Ukraine with representatives of the EU and NATO.
“I had the opportunity to speak directly with Dmitry Kozak, I reaffirmed the US's commitment to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.
I also made it clear that President Biden considers diplomacy to be the only positive and responsible way to resolve the crisis, ”Karen Donfried said before leaving Moscow.
Moreover, she pointed out the importance of the implementation of the Minsk agreements and added that she had received proposals from the Russian side on security guarantees.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also made a very symbolic statement this week: “Every day we are working to keep channels of interaction open, to carry out dialogue with Europeans and direct contacts with Ukrainians and Russians, as well as to follow the diplomatic way out of the situation. ".
Let's not pass off wishful thinking: the US administration and its European allies are still speculating about a possible "Russian invasion" of Ukraine.
They continue to accuse Moscow of a dangerous concentration of troops on the border and threaten it with furious sanctions from the collective West in the event of a military escalation in Donbass, into which Moscow will be drawn in one way or another.
This "decisive response" was warned by the foreign ministers of the G7 countries gathered in Liverpool at the end of last week.
All this remained unchanged.
And yet, a serious shift in the position of the United States and the West on the Ukrainian issue has taken place.
First, Washington and its allies made it clear that they consider the military scenario unacceptable, thereby sending a clear signal to Kiev: we will not fight for you.
Secondly, if earlier the United States and its European allies considered the primary source of all Ukraine's troubles exclusively Russia and only Russia, now they suddenly began to realize that until recently they did not reach them in any way. They seem to have begun to understand that a settlement in the east of Ukraine will never be achieved if Kiev does not strike a finger for this and only shouts about "Russian aggression" from year to year.
In general, there is more and more direct and indirect evidence that the West, which is not ready to soften its rhetoric towards Russia, and does not want big problems for it with its adventurous actions, created by an incapacitated and nationalist Ukraine. A country whose foreign policy and defense strategy in recent years has been exclusively aimed at inciting the West against Russia, portraying a victim and receiving dividends from this.
It is not surprising that the Ukrainian conflict and the ways of its settlement were discussed on Wednesday not only in Moscow, but also in Brussels. Meeting with President Zelensky on the sidelines of the Eastern Partnership summit, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for finding ways to resume negotiations in the Normandy format. As a result, President Zelensky found himself in an unenviable position for himself. The West, as it was not so long ago, does not want to consider Russia a problem forever and prefers to see it as part of the solution to the problem. Therefore, the West offers negotiations with Russia and, as we can see, is already conducting them.
But this does not want and President Zelensky is clearly not ready for this, who has long burned bridges in relations with Russia and therefore is not considered by it as a partner with whom one can negotiate something.
The Kiev authorities, which relied on the preparation of a power scenario in the Donbass and considered the Minsk agreements an anachronism, fatally miscalculated.
As it turned out, the West does not give its "go-ahead" for this.
What is Zelensky to do now, behind whose back are nationalists and supporters of military revenge?
He clearly found himself in zugzwang when any move would be a losing one for him.
Apparently, Zelensky is beginning to understand that the West did not live up to his hopes, in connection with which the entire ideological structure of Ukrainian statehood as an "anti-Russian", which began to build up under President Poroshenko, is crumbling.
Last Friday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a big interview to the Ukrainian TV channel 1 + 1, and I must say, he never looked so confused.
Answering journalists' questions, he accused Europe of indecision, cowardice, inability to overcome fear of Russia.
“I spoke frankly about this to our European colleagues: they all say that Russia is very powerful, it is strong.
And who makes it?
All of you when you are afraid, ”Vladimir Zelensky lamented, accusing Europe of cowardice in the face of Russia.
In general, this is the West's democratic ally in the post-Soviet space, calling on the West to go into battle with Russia for the ideals of the "Euromaidan" revolution and thereby proving to the West: Ukraine is a problem.
A big problem for everyone and for myself.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.