Does Ukraine make the US act irrationally?

Russia and the USA today once again exchanged political statements concerning the possible impact of the crisis in Ukraine on Russian-American relations. President Barack Obama promised that if Russia continues to stick to its line, it will pay dearly for the violation of international law. In turn, Russian Deputy Economic Development Minister Alexei Likhachev warned that Russian retaliatory sanctions would be symmetrical.VK discussed the development of Russian-American relations with experts -  the director of the Institute of EurAsEC Vladimir Lepekhin, deputy dean of the Faculty of World Politics of MSU Andrei Sidorov, CEO of the Foreign Policy Research Institute and initiatives Veronica Krasheninnikova and deputy director of the Public Diplomacy Fund  Roman Grishenina. Vladimir Lepekhin first drew attention to the fact that the United States is primarily interested in the Crimea."You can say that the Russians beat the Americans, because Crimea has always been a subject of interest of the Western powers. The main objectives for America were Syria and Iran. If the US could put their base near Sevastopol, they would be able to close the ring around these two countries," said Lepekhin.According to Andrei Sidorov, Ukraine is a rehearsal hall to test a scenario that will later be proposed to Russia. "Russia must make concessions, otherwise whatever is happening in Ukraine may in occur in Russia, but in a hypertrophied form. I remind you that nobody in the United States excluded Russia from their enemies, even after the Cold War, because we still have nuclear weapons to destroy them," said the expert.Veronica Krasheninnikova and Roman Grishenin described the overall behavior of the US as irrational. Andrei Sidorov expressed the opinion that Ukraine was selected  as the "weakest link." "Yanukovych was thinking  about European integration for too long. America's relationship with Vladimir Putin began to deteriorate in 2005. The "restart" related to nuclear disarmament has ended and no breakthroughs should be expected, at least until the next election," he said.

Russia and the USA today once again exchanged political statements concerning the possible impact of the crisis in Ukraine on Russian-American relations. President Barack Obama promised that if Russia continues to stick to its line, it will pay dearly for the violation of international law. In turn, Russian Deputy Economic Development Minister Alexei Likhachev warned that Russian retaliatory sanctions would be symmetrical.

 

VK discussed the development of Russian-American relations with experts -  the director of the Institute of EurAsEC Vladimir Lepekhin, deputy dean of the Faculty of World Politics of MSU Andrei Sidorov, CEO of the Foreign Policy Research Institute and initiatives Veronika Krasheninnikova and deputy director of the Public Diplomacy Fund  Roman Grishenin.

 

Vladimir Lepekhin first drew attention to the fact that the United States is primarily interested in the Crimea. "You can say that the Russians beat the Americans, because Crimea has always been a subject of interest of the Western powers. The main objectives for America were Syria and Iran. If the US could put their base near Sevastopol, they would be able to close the ring around these two countries," said Lepekhin.

 

According to Andrei Sidorov, Ukraine is a rehearsal hall to test a scenario that will later be proposed to Russia. "Russia must make concessions, otherwise whatever is happening in Ukraine may in occur in Russia, but in a hypertrophied form. I remind you that nobody in the United States excluded Russia from their enemies, even after the Cold War, because we still have nuclear weapons to destroy them," said the expert.

 

Veronika Krasheninnikova and Roman Grishenin described the overall behavior of the US as irrational. Andrei Sidorov expressed the opinion that Ukraine was selected  as the "weakest link." "Yanukovych was thinking  about European integration for too long. America's relationship with Vladimir Putin began to deteriorate in 2005. The "restart" related to nuclear disarmament has ended and no breakthroughs should be expected, at least until the next election," he said.