1 July 2022 18:22

Politics

International news review: Putin as a creature out of Dostoevsky and Indonesian diplomatic dances

Authors

Olexandr Zakharov , Ksenia Lisna

Indonesia wants to act as a new mediator in negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, Europe and the United States promise long-term support to Kyiv, and Putin again "rattling" nuclear weapons and threatening Finland and Sweden.

offers a news review summarizing the week in the world of geopolitics and Ukraine's place in it, which continues to fight for its borders.

Zelenskyy’s message delivered to Putin

Photo: president.gov.ua

Indonesian President Joko Widodo assured that his country would like the war to end soon, BBC reports.

He first met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and after that he delivered a message from the Ukrainian leader to the head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin.

Widodo did not reveal what the message said but added he's expressed his readiness to help start communication between Zelenskyy and Putin.

According to him, Indonesia will continue to cooperate with Russia, in particular, by buying fertilizers from it. Widodo is the current president of the G20 group of countries and a member of the UN crisis group set up to address the threat of global hunger resulting from the war in Ukraine.

The Indonesian leader has invited Zelenskyy to the November G20 summit in Bali. However, the Ukrainian president said that his attendance would directly depend on whether Putin was allowed there.

Photo: president.gov.ua

For its part, the latter blamed the West for a potential global food crisis once again. According to Putin, the imbalance of food markets is the result of "uncontrolled emission and accumulation of unsecured debts."

In addition, the situation has worsened since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. He also added that it was the sanctions against Russia that hinder the export of agricultural products, rather than the invasion of Ukraine.

Ursula von der Leyen addresses Verkhovna Rada

Photo: facebook.com/verkhovna.rada.ukraine

On July 1, in the morning, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, addressed the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine via video link.

The politician has again reminded Ukraine that there is a long road ahead before becoming a member of the EU. At the same time, she has assured that Europe will continue to support Kyiv, The Guardian reports.

"Ukraine is a candidate country to join the European Union, something that seemed almost unimaginable just five months ago," Ursula von der Leyen said in an address to the Ukrainian Parliament.

"There is a long road ahead but Europe will be at your side every step of the way, for as long as it takes, from these dark days of war until the moment you cross the door that leads into our European Union," she stressed.

Russia is withering, and Putin is a creature out of Dostoevsky

Photo: Wikipedia

Former US Secretary of Defense James Mattis has criticized Russia's war in Ukraine, calling it immoral and operationally stupid, CNN quoted him as saying.

Speaking on July 1 at the Seoul Forum 2022 in South Korea, he said:

"We have a saying in America, we say that nations with allies thrive, nations without allies wither and we’re watching Russia wither before our eyes right now."

When asked what military lessons could be taken from the war so far, the former US Marine said:

"One is don’t have incompetent generals in charge of your operations."

Mattis also called Russia's military performance pathetic and added that bringing Russia into the community of nations was not possible with Vladimir Putin as leader.

"The tragedy of our time is that Putin is a creature straight out of Dostoevsky. He goes to bed every night angry, he goes to bed every night fearful, he goes to bed every night thinking that Russia is surrounded by nightmares and this has guided him."

Putin had removed anyone from his circle that would disagree with him, so he probably thought that the Ukrainian people were going to welcome him, the military believes.

Johnson does not believe in Putin's nuclear threats

Photo: Getty Images

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has played down the estimated 35 nuclear threats that the Kremlin leader had made since the start of his military operation, The Independent reports.

The British leader warned that Russia would be able to overcome Ukraine's resistance by conventional means.

"I think it’s very, very important that we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be side-tracked by this kind of sabre-rattling," Johnson said, commenting on the nuclear threats.

In his opinion, Putin is trying to reframe the invasion of Ukraine into a confrontation between Russia and NATO.

"It’s not. It’s about his attack on an entirely innocent country, with conventional weapons, with artillery, bombardments with planes, shells and so on," the British Prime Minister explained.

Johnson stressed that it was about the Ukrainians’ right to protect themselves:

"And what we had today at Nato was, yet again, the alliance being tested. Are we resolved? Are we determined? Will we give the Ukrainians the means to protect themselves? And the answer was absolutely yes."

Biden: "This will not end with with Russia defeating Ukraine"

Photo: Getty Images

The US will provide Ukraine with another $800 million in weapons and military aid, hailing the courage of Ukrainians since Russia invaded in February, President Joe Biden said on June 30, Reuters reports.

According to the American leader, the States and their NATO allies are united in standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I don't know how it's going to end, but it will not end with Russia defeating Ukraine," Biden stressed. "Ukraine has already dealt a severe blow to Russia."

He assured that the United States would support Ukraine for as long as necessary:

"The U.S. is doing exactly what I said we would do if Russia invaded, enhance our force posture in Europe. The United States is rallying the world to stand with Ukraine."

For his part, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised Ukraine another $1.22 billion in military aid, and French President Emmanuel Macron promised six more CAESAR guns.

NATO expansion and Putin's response

Meanwhile, as early as Tuesday, July 5, Finland and Sweden will sign the formal protocol on joining NATO, but they will have to extradite 73 individuals at the request of Turkey, so that it can lift its veto on their NATO membership bids.

Photo: Getty Images

This refers to the representatives of the Kurdish rebels, whom Ankara describes as terrorists.

"First Sweden and Finland should carry out their duties. But if they don't, of course it is out of the question for the ratification to be sent to our parliament," Erdogan noted.

Putin promised that Russia would respond in kind if NATO deployed troops or infrastructure in Finland or Sweden.

According to Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, the West needed to be ready for possible attacks on the computer networks of Finland, Sweden, and NATO:

"Of course, we have to expect some kind of surprises from Putin, but I doubt that he is attacking Sweden or Finland directly."

Conclusions for Ukraine

It seems that now Indonesia has been involved in the diplomacy between Ukraine, which is suffering from the Russian invasion, and the Kremlin, which dreams of bringing the West to its knees.

Such negotiations shift the vector from the war itself to the risks of a food crisis, and Asia and Africa are ready to trade with Putin to overcome it. Nevertheless, Ukraine has a real chance to unblock the ports and take off the manipulative issue the Kremlin leader is playing with from the agenda.

Although Ukraine has to go a long way of reforms before joining the EU, Kyiv will get military and economic support from Europe and the United States, while Russia is losing its resources due to sanctions and a "pathetic war."

Whatever Moscow's response to NATO expansion may be, it is unlikely that they will have significant and lasting success. After all, even a real attempt to unleash a war on another front, for example, against future NATO members Finland and Sweden, will most likely end in the collapse of Russia itself.