The US does not want to take European interests into account

By Vestnik Kavkaza

Gazprom has confirmed once again that it will stop gas transit through Ukraine to Europe after 2019. Experts believe that the decision is connected not only with economic, but also political factors. Relations between Kiev and Moscow are still very tense, and their normalization seems to be impossible in the near future.

Political scientist Sergey Mikheyev, Deputy Chairman of the Vestnik Kavkaza Editorial Board, thinks that Russia has not paid attention to what is happening there for a long time. “We have seen that the West was building a fundamentally anti-Russian political regime in Ukraine, but we pretended that we do not notice this in order to save our good relations with the Europeans, as well as for the sake of some other issues, including internal order. But after the events in February 2014 we cannot help noticing it. That is, the policy of concessions could not last forever,” Mikheyev is sure.

However, the political analyst states that, even after that, Russia has been ready for dialogue: “The recognition of Poroshenko after the elections is a step towards the new Ukrainian authorities and a step towards the Western partners. Russia supported the Minsk Agreement. In fact, this is also a concession to the current Ukrainian authorities and the West, because there was no necessity to join these negotiations. We could help the militias in Donbass, and they would be ready to attack. We could not give a discount on gas to Ukraine, in which case Ukraine would freeze to death this winter. However, Russia made concessions on many other issues, trying to calm the situation down.”

Sergey Mikheyev points out that on the other hand, there was no such a desire from Kiev, Washington, or the European partners which supported Washington. According to him, the situation of the current conflict has been prepared by the ineffective policy of the West, or the provocative policy of the United States. “The West did not understand what they were doing and what the purpose was, or they specifically provoked this situation. As for Ukraine, I believe that many European politicians, entering into the crisis, did not understand what would happen at the end,” the expert said.

According to Mikheyev, the Americans essentially build their model of leadership by means of ignoring the interests of other countries. “Their policies lead to the detriment of European interests. They solve their problems by creating problems for others, rather than solving these problems from the viewpoint of the interests of the countries. It seems to me that there are two very serious disadvantages in the American model of leadership, and as these disadvantages determine the conflict, they make this model incendiary and dangerous for the entire planet,” Sergey Mikheyev stated.

“The Europeans were persuaded, and now they think that they need a conflict with Russia, as they want to protect their interests. But in fact, this is the wrong understanding. Europe’s interest is to have no conflicts with Russia. And it is in Russia’s interest to have no conflicts with Europe. We need a common safe space. The Americans’ interest is to create a conflict between Europe and Russia. In this way, Europe needs the US. In this case, their role in Europe is high. And if there is no conflict between Europe and Russia, the role of the Americans in Europe is automatically decreasing. It will threaten the American model of leadership. These positions cause many other problems,” Mikheyev is sure.