American senators by a majority vote (88 to 11) approved the country's draft defense budget for fiscal 2022, within which it is planned to allocate $ 300 million to provide military assistance to Ukraine.

As noted during the hearings, Republican Senator John Thune, this amount is $ 50 million more than a similar item in the US military budget last year.

In addition, the Senate approved the allocation of $ 4 billion for the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI), through which Operation Atlantic Resolve, launched by the United States in April 2014 to "contain" Russia, is funded.

Within its framework, a variety of military exercises are being held, the military infrastructure is expanding and modernizing, the number of weapons is increasing, and the American military is serving on a rotational basis.

The senators also approved the allocation of $ 150 million for cooperation in the field of security with the Baltic countries.

“Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are exemplary allies and play a critical role in the strategic efforts to ensure the continued deterrence of Russian aggression and maintain the collective security of the NATO alliance,” the document says.

The defense budget was previously approved by the House of Representatives and will now be sent for signature to President Joe Biden.

  • In the upper house of the United States Congress

  • Reuters

  • © Tasos Katopodis

At the same time, a group of senators came up with an initiative to provide Kiev with $ 450 million "to strengthen its defense capability."

As part of the bill submitted to Congress, it is also proposed to authorize the head of the State Department, if necessary, to make decisions on the supply of lethal weapons to Kiev, including anti-tank and small arms, anti-ship systems and anti-aircraft artillery.

According to Senator John Kornin, the document "will ensure the administration's swift action to strengthen the Ukrainian armed forces" and will reaffirm Washington's commitment to its European allies.

In turn, another Republican Marco Rubio said that Joe Biden's willingness to "make concessions" to Vladimir Putin "not only endangers Ukrainians, but also welcomes the Kremlin's aggression in the region."

Senators also propose to tighten sanctions against Nord Stream 2 (the corresponding amendment was removed from the US defense budget) and to secure Russia's status of a "state sponsoring terrorism" if Moscow and "forces under its control" try to change the balance of power in Ukraine.

American threat

The multimillion-dollar financial assistance to Ukraine, intended to strengthen its military potential, was approved against the backdrop of an information campaign against Russia unfolding in recent months.

Washington claims that Moscow is allegedly building up its military forces on the border with Ukraine in order to "invade" its territory in the near future.

This position is supported by a number of European allies of the United States.

Despite numerous denials of such "suspicions" on the part of Moscow, the United States continues to whip up anti-Russian hysteria, thus justifying the buildup of NATO forces near the borders of the Russian Federation. The White House also supports the idea of ​​Ukraine's possible entry into NATO on the agenda. Indeed, as stated by State Department spokesman Ned Price at a briefing in early December, the United States adheres to an open door policy on this issue.

“We have made it clear… that NATO's doors are open and we are committed to an open door policy… that NATO should remain an available option for candidate states when they are ready and able to meet their identified and membership obligations.

In particular, this means that they can ... contribute to ensuring security in the Euro-Atlantic area, ”he said.

At the same time, Price called it "ludicrous" the idea that Ukraine's NATO membership could pose a threat to Russia.

  • Talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Joe Biden

  • Reuters

  • © Sputnik / Mikhail Metzel

At the same time, as Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized on November 30, speaking at the Russia Calling! Investment forum, Ukraine’s possible membership in the North Atlantic Alliance is a “red line” for Moscow.

After all, having thus gained access to the territory of Ukraine, NATO will be able to deploy weapons there, which the Russian Federation will perceive as a threat.

“If some kind of shock complexes appear on the territory of Ukraine, the flight time to Moscow will be seven to ten, and in the case of the deployment of hypersonic weapons - five minutes ... But what should we do?

Then we will have to create something similar in relation to those who threaten us so, can you imagine?

And we can do it now ... The creation of such threats for us is the "red line", - said Putin.

This issue became one of the central during the talks between Putin and Biden on December 7.

Geopolitical tool

According to experts, on the scale of the American economy, the amount of $ 300 million allocated to Kiev as military assistance does not seem significant.

“This is relatively small money for the United States, but for Ukraine it is significant.

The current financing of Kiev fits into the policy of the American establishment, which constantly needs to prove its superiority over other players in the international arena and have its own interests everywhere.

Funds are now being poured into Ukraine as an instrument of pressure on Russia, which in Washington is considered its eternal enemy, "Sergei Sudakov, a corresponding member of the Academy of Military Sciences, explained in an interview with RT.

In addition, he noted, keeping Ukraine in the orbit of its influence helps the United States move closer to achieving the goal of creating a military corps on the border with Russia.

“After all, Biden wants to be remembered, among other things, as a“ hawk ”who was able to tame or at least“ restrain ”Russia,” the expert believes.

Sergei Ermakov, an expert at the RISS Research Coordination Center, shares this opinion.

By providing funding for military articles, the United States is strengthening Ukraine as a tool to put pressure on one of its main geopolitical adversaries, he said.

“Any assistance to Ukraine in military and military-technical terms comes from the Americans precisely from the point of view of solving the main task for them - containing the geopolitical enemy in the European direction - that is, Russia.

It is not for nothing that we are witnessing hysteria around mythical plans about an "attack" by Russian troops on Ukraine.

The goal of this campaign is to justify the allocation of new funds and the placement of additional weapons in the EU, not only for US lawmakers, but also for European partners.

Hence the financing of the Baltic countries and EDI, "Ermakov said in a commentary on RT.

At the same time, as Sergei Sudakov noted, it is no coincidence that the Baltic states are a separate item in the US defense budget.

“According to the Pentagon, these countries are in a special“ risk zone ”, that is, under the threat of military destruction by Russia.

However, in addition to this, with their help, Washington intends to continue to put pressure on Moscow in the Baltic Sea region, ”the analyst said.

  • US military on exercises in Finland

  • Reuters

  • © Lehtikuva / Elias Lahtinen

In turn, Dmitry Danilov, head of the European Security Department at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, commenting in a conversation with RT on the military support of Ukraine from the United States, noted that special attention should be paid to exactly where this money will be directed.

"If the United States intends in this way to increase the supply of lethal weapons to Ukraine and to strengthen its offensive rather than defensive capabilities, then this could seriously affect the prospects for de-escalating the conflict in the southeast of the country," Danilov explained.

Moreover, so far both the United States and its European allies turn a blind eye to the buildup of military forces in the region, since Ukraine in this regard plays the "role of an irritant" for Russia.

That is why, according to the analyst, the talks between Putin and Biden did not lead to a quick relaxation of tensions.

Indeed, in his opinion, the main task of the leaders was to designate for each other their positions in the field of security.

“The talks between Putin and Biden were, in principle, devoted, I would say, to clarifying those issues of concern that are now critical and exist not only in relations between the two countries, but also in the European security system.

Whether the United States and Russia will be able to find a consensus on these topics is already a question, probably, for the next such meeting.

Therefore, since at the first stage there was no question of any improvement in relations, the previous political lines of forcing the same “Russian threat” remained unchanged, ”Danilov summed up.