Vladimir Putin is working on a response to his US counterpart for his insult, US analysts believe. The Russians think that Biden is doing his best to put an end to Nord Stream 2.
On Thursday, April 1, the press service of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reported that Ukrainian Defense Minister Andrei Taran and his American counterpart Lloyd Austin had a telephone conversation, in which the US official promised that the United States would not allow Russia to implement its aggressive aspirations against Ukraine.
Austin said during the call that Washington would not leave Ukraine alone in the event should the Russian aggression escalate.
It was also said that it was the US side that initiated the phone call.
In addition, AFP reported that NATO held an urgent meeting dedicated to the movement of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine. The news was reported by The New York Times, which wrote on March 30 that as many as 4,000 Russian troops were deployed on the border with Ukraine.
Last week, the European command of the US armed forces raised the monitoring level from "a possible crisis" to a "potentially imminent crisis."
Bogdan Bezpalko, a member of the Council for Interethnic Relations under the President of the Russian Federation, told Pravda.Ru:
“I would like to have a look at the guarantees that the Ukrainian Defense Ministry mentioned.”
According to the expert, those should be bilateral treaties, which clearly regulate obligations to provide military assistance, indicate the types of military assistance and specify the cases in which this military assistance will be provided."
"A phone call between defense ministers is fine, but this is just a phone call - just words, and no action," Bogdan Bezpalko said.
As for the movement of the Russian troops on the territory of Russia, this is an internal affair of the Russian Federation that in no way concerns either the United States of America or Ukraine, Putin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Peskov's comments suggest that there was such a movement indeed.
If Ukraine listens to its patrons in the United States and goes on an offensive in the Donbass, its armed forces will be destroyed, Bogdan Bezpalko told Pravda.Ru.
According to Bogdan Bezpalko, the new round of aggravation around the Donbass is based on the imminent completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, rather than on Ukraine's desire to restore its territorial integrity. It is no coincidence that warships, submarines and airplanes patrol the construction area and stage provocations, he noted.
The Washington Post columnist David Ignatius believes the current situation could be a test for Joe Biden.
The article Pentagon ‘watching’ as Russia steps up aggression in Eastern Europe says:
"The recent increase in activity presents a fresh foreign policy challenge for the new administration, even as the president had pledged to take a tougher line with Russia than former President Donald Trump, whose relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin led to accusations that he was soft on Moscow."
Denis Pushilin, the head of the People's Republic of Donetsk, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, said on Thursday, April 1, that in the republic regularly holds military exercises against the backdrop of the threat of aggression from Ukraine.
"Our units are ready always and permanently," said Pushilin, who inspected the combat training exercises of the units of people's militia of the People's Republic of Donetsk.