Last week (May, 30 – June, 6), Ukraine and the world actively discussed a new sanctions package against russia, formats for solving the food crisis provoked by russia, and possible ways to end the war.
After a long break, vladimir putin reappeared in the media and shifted his responsibility for global problems arising from his aggression against Ukraine. The aggressor state does not conceal its hopes that European societies will grow weary of war and its economic consequences, and that their democracies will not withstand internal discussions and potential difficulties.
Instead, Ukraine has warned about the inadmissibility of weakening pressure on russia and the threat of violating the unity of the civilized world to counter the aggressor.
Courtesy of the French President, Emmanuel Macron, the world resumed the discussion of calls to "preserve the face for putin" and not to humiliate russia but Ukrainian officials rejected any "ideas" of compromise through concessions by the territories.
During the week, there was a non-public process of agreeing on international coordination procedures for the export of Ukrainian grain, but putin's public statements indicated his intention to continue food-based blackmail.
New EU Sanctions Package: Ukraine and russia's Reaction
The introduction of the sixth EU sanctions package against russia was accompanied by significant public activity of Ukrainian and russian officials. Ukraine's reaction was aimed at maintaining and strengthening the unity of European states in pressuring the aggressor state and increasing the scale of restrictions for it.
President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, stressed that the only argument that russia understands is force, so Europe should demonstrate it. “Russia wants to see at such meetings not an integral European Council, which we now see, and not a united European Union, but rather the 27 individual states, 27 fragments that cannot be put together. This is their wish,” Volodymyr Zelensky warned his European partners about the russian strategy. The leader of the Ukrainian state expressed his conviction that despite the current implementation pace of sanctions, Europe will in any case have to abandon russian oil and petroleum products, which are the energy weapons of the russian federation. "A complete energy embargo is the only approach to have the necessary economic and psychological impact on decision-making by the kremlin," underscored the official position of the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andrii Yermak.
From the public comments of Ukrainian officials, it could be concluded: they doubt that the current scope of sanctions is sufficient to stop russia's aggression. In particular, Andrii Yermak stated that the kremlin's plans would be difficult to thwart if Ukraine's allies and partners did not go further and take tough measures undermining the ability of the rf to finance the war. According to him, only a complete energy embargo will have the necessary economic and psychological impact on decision-making in the kremlin, and the strengthening of sanctions should cover the financial and energy sectors and a greater number of government officials and businessmen.
After the approval of the sixth EU sanctions package, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, expressed his opinion that it is necessary to immediately start working on the next stage of the application of sanctions. “It is good that the sixth sanctions package has finally been formalized. But it must come into force without undue delay, so that the preparation of the 7th sanctions package could start further. Every remaining link between Europe and russia is a rope that the russian state will try to turn into a slip knot,” Volodymyr Zelensky called on partners to continue the sanctions pressure.
Head of the Presidential Office, Andrii Yermak, actually pointed out that international economic sanctions compensate for the ineffectiveness of mechanisms to guarantee world security. “The application of international economic sanctions is absolutely essential. Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, blocks all legally binding decisions despite the unanimous international condemnation of its illegal invasion,” Yermak highlighted.
Russia's further reaction to the new sanctions confirmed Ukrainian warnings to Europe about the aggressor's strategy aimed at splitting the civilized world. Russian officials and politicians explicitly expressed their hopes for the resentment of the citizens of European countries due to economic and energy problems. The chairman of the federation council, valentina matvienko, for example, was convinced that the sixth package of sanctions, in the first place, is “critical” for citizens of EU member states. Previously, putin and many other leaders of the aggressor state publicly expressed their dreams of destabilizing EU members as a result of sanctions against russia. Thus, countering russian disinformation and their spread of distrust towards the governments of democratic countries is coming to the fore, again. As before, the rf not only threatens the world with weapons but also keeps challenging its democratic development.
The russian authorities actively persuaded their citizens and the international community of their ability to reorient themselves to other energy markets, to which Ukrainian officials responded. The tracking and termination of bypass schemes for russia and working with a wide list of countries is the priority at the current stage of applying sanctions against the rf.
Faking their capacity to adapt to economic sanctions, rf tries to hide the unprecedented reputational losses incurred not only in business but also in culture, education, and sports.
putin's face, and “arrangements” with russia, again. How did Ukraine respond to calls to “reconcile” with the aggressor?
Ukraine was forced to respond to the calls of individual Western experts and leaders encouraging to negotiate with russia. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, directly responded to the call of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, not to humiliate russia, since, in the opinion of the French head of state, it is important to preserve the opportunity for diplomacy after the war. “Calls to avoid humiliating russia can only humiliate France and any other country that would call for it. Because it is russia that humiliates itself. We all'd better focus on how to put russia in their place. This will bring peace and save lives,” Dmytro Kuleba retorted to Macron's words.
Ambassador of Ukraine to the UN, Serhii Kyslytsia, also warned about the danger and irresponsibility of attempts of certain European politicians to "sell" to the public the idea of ending the war through Ukraine's concessions to the aggressor. “We will never agree that russia fully controls any part of Ukraine's territory. Any assumptions that Ukraine will agree to this are wrong, and not only from a military, but also from a political point of view," Kyslytsia warned.
The unacceptability of last week calls for concessions to russia was also communicated by a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the negotiations with russia, advisor to the Head of the OP, Mykhailo Podoliak. He believes that due to the powerful russian lobby and their own indecision, some politicians in Europe are beginning to say that Ukraine should stop fighting and conclude a certain "peace" with russia on territorial positions after February, 24. Podoliak rejected the possibility of concluding any agreement with russia, such as Minsk-3, as it would become a stalemate war, with even more victims and risks to Ukraine's security.
In parallel with the public calls of some Western politicians and experts to reach an agreement with russia, Western media circulate information about certain non-public negotiations between the US, the EU and the United Kingdom about the formats for ending the war and a possible truce, in particular around the so-called plan of Italy. Ukraine's reaction to the as-yet-meaningless talks about negotiations is obviously aimed at preventing behind-the-scenes agreements and unexpected changes in the positions of its Western partners.
Putin's "bipolarity": there is nothing new in the supply of weapons to Ukraine but we can strike the "command centers".
Last week, vladimir putin gave an interview to one of the leading propaganda channels of the russian federation, where he expressed his position on the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Given putin's non-publicity during the war, this interview can be considered a pre-planned step.
The position of the kremlin's head on weapon supply was a mixture of ramzan-kadyrov-style bravado, reassurances to russians, and threats to Ukraine. Like his junior counterpart from Chechnya, putin boasted about the “successes” of his army, citing the alleged capacity of russian air defense to combat the unmanned attack systems that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are equipped with. “I don't mean to offend anyone but their systems are as easy as shelling peas for us,” the russian dictator said audaciously. He also reassured the russians on the supply of new multiple launch rocket systems to Ukraine. According to him, Ukraine already had similar systems, and western supplies only mean to replenish the weapons destroyed during the hostilities. The leader of the aggressor state tried to demonstrate his lack of concern about the supply of systems with a similar range to the equipment of Soviet origin.
Instead, putin said that in the case of supplying Ukraine with missiles that allow firing further than the normal range of the MLRS, the russian army can strike at objects that they "have been awaiting to touch". Thus, the head of the kremlin tried to simultaneously reduce the importance of supplying weapons to Ukraine and threaten with the consequences for increased assistance to the Armed Forces. In general, the appearance of putin on the TV screen was intended to repeat the previous statements about the "inevitability" of fulfilling the goals of the war against Ukraine. Instead, his words that the supply of weapons to Ukraine is aimed at protracting the war could be said to demonstrate readiness for long-term hostilities.
Recall that on June 1, US President, Joe Biden, announced a new defense assistance package for Ukraine, which includes HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems. At a press conference in Kyiv, US Ambassador Bridget Brink referred the issue of the range of future use of HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems to the competence of the Ukrainian military. Instead, Mykhailo Podoliak, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said that Russia's number one task is to undermine trust between Ukraine and the United States. “Ukraine is engaged in a defensive war and does not plan to use the provided MRLS to attack objects in the territory of the rf. Our American partners know where their war machinery is used. Any insinuations about such intentions are the propaganda of the russian special services,” Podolyak emphasized.
putin does not recognize his country's responsibility for global processes
In the same interview, putin said that russia is not responsible for the deterioration of the situation in the world. In his opinion, inflation and negative phenomena in the areas of food and energy had developed before the beginning of the so-called "special operation". “The situation with food challenges in the world began to develop long before the special military operation in Ukraine, during the pandemic. Inflation in the United States is not related to russia's action in Ukraine. Inflation was accelerated by the ill-considered steps of the United States to inject funds into the economy, rather than with the actions of the russian federation in Ukraine,” – said the russian dictator. He also accused Europe's “green” agenda for worsening the energy situation. “They started underestimating the traditional types of energy,” putin underscored. The accusation of everyone but himself can be considered an attempt by the russian regime to appeal to the emotions of potentially disgruntled citizens of civilized countries of the world and their populist politicians. The claim that the governments of the developed countries themselves are to blame for the economic situation has obviously entered a political agenda of kremlin-dependent political forces, which will keep growing.
There are no limits to cynicism: the kremlin continues to blackmail people with food
Problems of food security that have continued to be on top of agenda in global discussions from the previous week The russian strategy was very aptly described by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba. “Russia is playing hungry games with the world, blocking Ukrainian food exports with one hand, and trying to shift the blame to Ukraine with the other one. Ukraine is working on an international UN-led operation with fleets of partners that provide a safe trade route without security risks,” Kuleba said.
The leader of the kremlin fully confirmed the cynicism of russian blackmail in the matter of food. First, putin declared the “insignificance” of Ukrainian exports in the world grain supply structure while juggling with fictitious calculations. Secondly, he "promised" not to prevent the export of grain from Odessa and other ports not captured by the russians, and not to use their demining process to attack Ukraine. It should be emphasized here that Ukraine insists on obtaining military guarantees that russia does not use the unblocked access to Odessa to attack it from the sea. “And this is why we need the military presence of countries that are ready to participate in such an operation,” said Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's chief diplomat.
The russian dictator also "threw the bone" and offered to transport Ukrainian grain through ports in the temporarily occupied Berdiansk and Mariupol and "guarantee" the safety of the cargo. The latter proposal can be called the advertising card for the cynical policy of russians – to show their flock and loyal foreign audiences a pretended "constructive proposal", offering the deliberately unacceptable solutions to the problems they created themselves. In the context of food security, the head of the aggressor state also proposed to lift sanctions from Lukashenka for the transit of Ukrainian grain to the Baltic ports. As we can see, the world's problems apart, putin has not forgotten about the "sugar pill" for his only ally.
In the context of the "offer" to transport grain through Berdiansk and Mariupol, it should be mentioned that russians export stolen agricultural products and metal from the temporarily occupied territories. Stolen Ukrainian wheat has already come up in the ports of Syria, as reported by the Embassy of Ukraine in Lebanon; while in other countries, they also check information about the criminal activity of russia to sell stolen property from the TOTs. "Hundreds of thousands of tons of Ukrainian goods have already been removed from the southern areas controlled by russian troops to the russian federation. At the same time, russia refuses to provide green corridors for the export of our agricultural products. This is an obvious blackmail of the world community by food scarcity, because before the war, Ukraine was the guarantor of food security for 400 million people on the planet," – announced the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andrii Yermak. According to the official, this is the fourth type of blackmail that the Kremlin has used during the aggression against Ukraine. The previous ones, according to Yermak, concerned the EU's threats of energy famine, a possible catastrophe at one of the captured Ukrainian nuclear power plants and a nuclear strike.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrel, in his tweets, reacted to russia's attempts to cynically shift responsibility for the world's food security. “Russia is directly responsible for the grain deficit and instead of ending its aggression, they are actively seeking to shift the guilt to international sanctions,” Borrel stressed. He also rejected russian propaganda that international sanctions against russia provoked food problems in the world. “The EU sanctions are directed against russia's ability to continue the war. They are not aimed at wheat,” this is how Borrel refuted the narrative of rf.
Throughout the past week, we also actively discussed the topic of negotiations between Ukraine, Turkey, the United Nations and russia on developing a solution to the export of grain from Ukraine by sea. Detailed information on the possible format for solving the problem created by the russian aggression is not abundant, but on June 5, the spokesperson of the President of Turkey, Ibrahim Kalin, said that he expected to see the decision made in the coming days. At the same time, the Turkish side stressed that even if a compromise was reached, it would take another 3-5 weeks for the operation to start. In general, the negotiations are aimed at establishing procedures for coordinating the process of departure and arrival of ships at Ukrainian ports and preventing the entry of russian ships there. Against the background of the negotiation process, alarming information was heard from Ambassador of Ukraine, Vasyl Bondar, who informed about the removal of stolen grain in Ukraine to the territory of Turkey. According to the Ambassador, the facts of illegal activities should be investigated by national authorities and international institutions. Indeed, the information on possible underhand dealings with Ukrainian grain on the territory of the key intermediary country is of serious concern.
Anecdote of the week
The so-called speaker of the russian parliament, viacheslav volodin (while everyone understands that there is no real parliamentarism in russia) unexpectedly stated that Biden and Zelensky represent different age categories. However, it is quite obvious to volodin: they both lack experience and responsibility. All that is left to do here is to extend on the opinion of an "experienced" russian politician who did not pass any democratic elections – Zelensky and Biden do not have a palace in Gelendzhik stolen from the naive and propaganda brainwashed russian voters.
Civil network OPORA – special for Ukrayinska Pravda