INTERNATIONAL – “A military action [de la Russie] could be launched very, very quickly” on Ukraine. On CNN, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan again indicated on Sunday, February 13, that Ukraine was about to be invaded by its Russian neighbor over the weekend. under high voltage.
On Monday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby also said that Russia has reinforced its military posture on Ukraine’s borders over the weekend, despite Moscow’s announcement of the end of certain military exercises. .
Also on Monday, the United States decided to move its embassy from Kiev to Lviv, in the west of the country, in the face of the “dramatic acceleration” of the deployment of Russian forces on the border, announced the head of American diplomacy. Antony Blinken in a statement.
This speech, considered alarmist by some observers on the imminence of an invasion of Ukraine, participated in the multiplication of announcements of departure of diplomats from Kiev and calls for Western nationals to leave the country. Fear? A war when the discussions between Vladimir Putin and Western leaders (Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz or Joe Biden) seemed not to bear fruit.
More than 100,000 Russian soldiers on the borders of Ukraine
Especially since in parallel with the rise in tensions, the information delivered by the United States was becoming more and more precise. Friday, Jake Sullivan ensured in particular that the invasion “could begin during the Olympic Games” in Beijing, which will end on February 20, citing “new forces” at the gates of Ukraine, surrounded on its border with Belarus, on its border with Russia and in the Black Sea by more than 100,000 Russian soldiers.
For CNN, with the avalanche of warnings and publications of documents usually kept secret since November, the United States is indulging in a real game of poker. With the objective of dissuading Putin from resorting to the military option. Not without attracting requests to provide proof of their words.
“The Biden administration believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin was taken aback by the publication of certain information” explains the media, which reports that the American intelligence services “intercepted messages” from their Russian counterparts and the army in which “they complain about the disclosure of their plans”.
“The United States has learned the lesson”
Also, the American administration seems to want to prevent a repeat of the flash annexation that Crimea experienced in 2014. At the time Vladimir Putin had denied almost to the end the presence of Russian troops on his border with Ukraine . “The United States has learned its lesson,” says the HuffPost Jeffrey Hawkins, associate researcher at Iris and former American diplomat.
According to the researcher, by flooding the press with warnings about an imminent invasion of Ukraine and involving itself directly in the negotiations, the Biden administration is also trying to turn the page on “four years of American absence in the world”. NATO”, under Donald Trump, and to assert “the leadership” of the country.
Jeffrey Hawkins believes, however, that the United States “will not go to war for Ukraine”, rejecting the opening of an armed conflict involving the Americans in Europe, despite their willingness to bang their fists on the table, but “will impose very heavy sanctions on Russia in the event of an invasion”.
For the researcher, American intervention would only be possible if Russia threatened other European countries, such as the Baltic States. “What is important for the Americans is the security of European countries”, suggests Jeffrey Hawkins, for whom “Ukraine is less strategically important for Western countries than for Russia”, who still considers it a hunt – guarded.
Especially since the American president indicated that in the event of war “it would be impossible to dispatch troops on the spot to recover American citizens”, reports Release. Therefore, by calling on its nationals to leave Ukraine, the Americans are trying to avoid scenes of chaotic evacuations similar to those that occurred last summer in Afghanistan. Joe Biden will not “endanger the lives of American soldiers by sending them to a war zone to save people who could have left now but chose not to”, insisted Jake Sullivan.
In addition, faced with the frustration generated since his election, with his flagship measures – his social and environmental spending plan and his reform of access to the vote – thwarted, Joe Biden, by standing up to Putin’s inclinations, knows that Democrats and Republicans in Congress agree on financial support for Ukraine, according to Release. But that an armed intervention abroad continues to divide opinion and parties, even within its own camp.
See also on The HuffPost: Russian invasion of Ukraine possible in coming days, White House warns
This article originally appeared on The HuffPost and has been updated.
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