Two former ambassadors in Ukraine and the U.S. urged President Joe Biden and NATO not to reward Russia's President Vladimir Putin for his attempted blackmail.
"Putin will stop only if we demonstrate a strong position," added Chaly, who now chairs the Ukraine Crisis Media Center, a pro-Western NGO set up to promote Ukrainian sovereignty internationally."The Western alliance should take the initiative."
"Putin could well take this opportunity. He may think that Zelenskiy is not able to withstand it, he may think that President Biden won't stand up to it, he may think that the NATO alliance won't do anything. "We should and we must change this approach of creating a buffer zone," Chaly said."The best concept is to have a common border with Russia in the future, a NATO border on its eastern flank along the eastern border of Ukraine. It seems unrealistic now, but I think it is more problematic to keep Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova in a buffer zone between NATO and Russia."
"The messaging is that we are talking to the Ukrainians and we know what is happening on the ground. It's a kind of preventative deterrence, communication by deterrence." Russia has long considered NATO an existential threat; an aggressive alliance designed to surround, isolate and smother what remains of the former Soviet Union.
"One thing that wouldn't be a concession—but it would be something that I think all sides could agree to—would be a conversation, a negotiation among the United States, Russia, Ukraine, and European allies about European security," Taylor said.NATO Allies Want German Pivot on Russia's Nord Stream 2 PipelineThe Western alliance has long been accused of being reactive rather than proactive on the Russian front.
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