prof. univ. dr. Cristian BARNA*
Abtract. Putin knows that the solution to the Ukrainian war depends heavily on peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, negotiations that are impossible for Ukraine to conduct in these conditions.
Speculation that the war in Ukraine is not going the way Putin would have wanted can neither be refuted nor confirmed by Ukraine or the West, while Russia continues its military strategy on the ground. The fact that Russian troops are repositioning is part of a military strategy that is obviously adaptable to the evolution of hostilities, but Russia has already gained more on the ground than it demanded before hostilities began: junction on the Sea of Azov between Crimea and Lugansk, buffer zone for Crimea, Snake Island, several territories for the “Independent Republics” Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as the economic incapacity of Ukraine.
But still, Russia wants to sign a “kind of peace” with Ukraine! Because no one else will step in there! Apart from aid in military equipment and money, which it receives from the US, EU and NATO, Ukraine has not received anything significant in relation to what the presence of another military party in the conflict could mean.
* Training Manager Intelligence4ALL, profesor asociat al Universităţii Bucureşti, Facultatea de Sociologie şi Asistenţă Socială şi al Universităţii Babeş-Bolyai din Cluj Napoca, Facultatea de Istorie şi Filosofie