The Russian perspective on the Ukraine Crisis...

 

Ukrainian military vehicles. RT/Getty. 

Russia says that war between the country and Ukraine is unacceptable. RT. Russia said that they did not want war with Ukraine and neither did Ukraine and blamed Ukraine's foreign sponsors for increasing tensions. Russia also said that they have no intention to attack Ukraine. They cited evacuations of diplomats and weapons shipments as examples of Western aggression and also said that critics of Western actions are being silenced. Russia also called for NATO to pull back forces and stop interfering with Ukraine. 

My Comment:

With the hysteria coming from the Western media and our governments, I thought it would be helpful to have a different perspective from the Russians themselves. You obviously shouldn't trust RT and the Russians but I would say that if you don't trust them but also do trust western media and our government than you are a fool. 

So are the Russians right? Do they want to avoid war? I think that they do. Going to war over Ukraine is not something that they should want. Not only do they risk taking heavy casualties they would face major economic damage, even ignoring any sanctions brought on by the United States. I think there is even a possibility that they would not win the war or, even worse, they could be caught up in an Afghanistan style insurgency. 

I think what Russia wants is pretty obvious. A federal solution to the Ukraine civil war and for closer ties with the Ukrainian government. I don't think they want to take over the entirety of Ukraine. They do want to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO of course. 

I also don't think Russia is in any way ready to invade. The time is not right. They don't have all their forces in place and I can't imagine that any country would want to invade Ukraine in the middle of winter. Plus, the Olympics are coming up and though they have done stuff during the Olympics before I can't see them doing it this year. 

The biggest sign that Russia isn't ready for war and is probably trying to avoid it is that they haven't used any of their leverage against Europe yet. All they have to do is cut off natural gas from the continent and it would be brought down to its knees. I know the United States has said they would make up for that but from what I understand there isn't enough natural gas in the entire world to supply Europe's needs. 

I personally don't expect war. I think Ukraine is going to make a deal with the Russians. They may want a closer relationship with the west but they also realize that nobody is going to go to war with them. Ukrainian President Zelensky was elected on a mandate to end the war and he will likely finally do so, leaving the Biden administration in the lurch...