Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged the West not to "panic," saying, " There is a feeling abroad that there is war here. That’s not the case."
Zelensky's presidency has kicked off with disclosure of former US President Donald Trump's controversial phone call. The Ukrainian president's recent phone call with his American counterpart Joe Biden has been a tense conversation, which shows another controversial connection between presidents of the US and Ukraine. CNN has quoted a top Ukrainian official as saying that the recent phone call was not going well. Certain republican politicians called for release of the phone call.
It seems that Biden tried to persuade Zelensky that a Russian threat is serious, but the Ukrainian president, who did not deny such a threat, considered his counterpart's remarks as exaggeration.
Russians have repeated that they do not plan to attack Ukraine. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov underlined the issue. Of course, this stance does not translate into the issue that the Russians are not concerned about Ukraine's accession to NATO. Lavrov stressed that the West wants to attract Ukraine into NATO, but such a move will not enhance security of this alliance, but it will undermined relationships between the West and Russia.
Russians' concern about expansion of NATO near Russia's borders is definitely the most important reason behind Russian military buildup in its western borders; although, the Ukrainian authorities have acknowledged that such amount of forces are not sufficient for a big Russian attack on Ukraine.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, has twitted that there is no imminent threat whatsoever, even the Ukrainian officials agree that. The Western media and officials insist on that. They are more catholic than the pope. What is their goal?
--- Answers from two viewpoints
The issue that the West wants to portray the situation in western borders of Russia as critical may has its roots in two reasons: the US's internal situation and NATO's condition.
A look at the current situation of the Biden administration shows that the US government is facing crises; so, it labors hard to revive its face in the eyes of the American people. Inflation jumped seven percent, COVID-19 pandemic spread once more, hazardous withdrawal from Afghanistan along with some other issues have been declining the Biden administration's approval rate in recent months. The administration has got less than 40 percent approval, while the figure was around 60 percent in his first months of tenure.
New York Times has reported that many republicans say they see no need to change their attitude or propose a positive agenda for the next year elections, which will turn into a referendum for determining Biden's political fate.
In such a critical situation, the US administration requires to showcase achievements, but when it does not have any achievement inside the US borders, it will try to find a success overseas.
Exaggerating a threat in Ukraine and then trying to contain it can help the Biden administration repair its tarnished face inside the United States.
On the other hand, putting pressure on Russia can be a special achievement for the American democrats to energize pro-democrat voters. Democrats believe that they lost the 2016 presidential race to republicans due to Russian intervention; although, Moscow denied such an accusation.
Given NATO's condition, it is obvious that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is in dire need of facing a threat to be able to justify its presence and expenditures. Essentially, NATO did not have any reason to exist after the end of the Cold War, let alone to expand in East Europe, where has been considered as Russia's backyard.
The unacceptable performance of NATO and particularly the US in Afghanistan also tarnished the alliance; therefore, they require a so-called threat that is not real but it is being exaggerated in the eyes of world public.
NATO officials are well aware if a full-fledged war erupts between Russia and Ukraine, neither the Ukrainian army nor NATO forces can do stand against Russian military; so, they try to pretend that they can prevent from such a conflict.
On Sunday, US senators said that the Senate is very close to reach consensus to ratify a law on imposing sanctions on Russia based on alleged threat against Ukraine, adding that the punishments may come into effect even before any potential attack. They added that pre-attack sanctions may be imposed on Russia because of Russians' previous measures such as cyber-attacks on Ukraine.
It seems that Russians should be ready for new sanctions by the West. The sanction policy has been utilized by the US and its allies for a long time, but this time Moscow may be sanctioned despite the fact that there is no military conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
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