Ukrain (Washington Insider Magazine) -With tensions rising to a boiling point between Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin received a straightforward phone call from President Biden last Tuesday. This occurred in the wake of Putin’s threats to invade and attack Russia that has been circulating over the past few weeks.
President Biden’s scope of restriction on Putin would come in the form of severe economic sanctions and restrictions. While this may have been effective in other situations, President Putin has shown resistance to Biden, rebuffing his authority as President of the United States since he’s assumed office in January of 2021. Political commentators from a variety of sources have expressed disbelief that this will keep Putin from executing political strategy over Ukraine and its citizens.
This is especially a risk, as President Biden has confirmed that at the moment, using US troops to help reinforce the threat will not be considered. Although reasons for the passive strategy are unclear, many doubt the efficacy of the strategy given President Putin’s past history of inaction until there is military reactivity involved.
Currently, Biden has stated that troops will not be involved, as the US is not beholden to Ukraine in the same way that it is to other allies under NATO – which, while accurate, is not considering any of the potential human rights abuses or concerns for Ukranian wellbeing if the country were to suffer an attack under President Putin.
Instead, President Biden is considering making allowances for the Russian frustration surrounding the expansion of NATO. While this act of diplomacy may elevate the United States under different circumstances, many fear that this lapse in foreign policy will signal concurrent weakness or passive leadership under the current presidency.
This was already noted and evident by the resumption of the oil pipeline construction the day after Biden swore into the US presidency.
The goal of these allowances and talks is to reduce the tension in the East, especially surrounding Ukraine. If these talks go well, one may consider that this is a long-form strategy that will continue to shape US policy in the future.
Putin has been very vocal about his refusal to attack and subsequently encroach on Ukraine, stating that his concern comes with the expansion of NATO and Russia’s inability to maintain monitoring and intelligence in other relative areas.
To completely ignore and enable the expansion without quantification of Russian concern would show evidence of indifference to the political and security interests of Russia, according to President Putin.
While tensions are still on the rise, Putin has affirmed that Russia is proceeding with a peaceful foreign security policy unless otherwise provoked by Ukraine. Both presidents have affirmed that the phone call was open, honest, and otherwise constructive when it comes to the future of US foreign policy and Russian procedure.
Despite US Intelligence sources seeing and vocalizing a heavier military presence along the Ukrainian border, Russia has dismissed all claims of possible invasion at this time.