According to Fiona Gill, former Special Advisor to the President of the United States for Russia and Europe (2017-2019), Russian President Vladimir Putin was counting on Ukraine and the West to capitulate to such an unprecedented concentration of Russian troops near the Ukrainian borders.
However, the Kremlin has received only backlash, Gill said.
“They thought… that they were thus intimidating not only Ukraine, but also NATO and Europe. Russia thought it would be a capitulation to a certain extent. But, in contrast, they received a different reaction,” she said during an online discussion of the Kiev Security Forum on February 16.
In her opinion, Putin “miscalculated”, because what he received was a rebuff from all partners. In addition, Gill said that the Russian Federation put forward demands relating not only to Ukraine, but to the world order.
– The demands that Russia sets out and outlined in December last year are not about Donbass, they are already talking about the whole of Ukraine. And these are the demands of Russia, which concern both NATO, and the possibilities of security in Europe, and the possibilities that affect the United States, – said the former adviser to the American president.
However, Ukraine continues to be under siege, as there is no certainty that Putin will not attack today or tomorrow, says Gill.
– Such movements of a large number of military personnel from the eastern border of Russia to the border with Ukraine is a very powerful situation. And we see how strong the position of Russia is, which puts pressure on other countries: Kazakhstan, Armenia, and also on Nagorno-Karabakh. That is, what is happening now, as our common reaction to what is happening in Ukraine, it is our common reaction to the plans that the Kremlin could have, Fiona Gill summed up.
