Back in the 1990s, the American authorities made a number of mistakes in relations with Russia, which ultimately had a negative effect on the political situation in the world and led to a conflict with Moscow. This opinion was expressed on February 27 by American economist Jeffrey Sachs in an interview with The New Yorker.
The expert explained that the cause of the current problems is the formed feeling among American leaders after 1991 that the world has developed a unipolar world where the US can do whatever it wants.
“And that includes basing the armed forces where they want, when they want, making treaties and leaving them when they want, where they want, without serious consequences,” he said.
He recalled that even with the idea of the first stage of the expansion of the NATO alliance, many influential people opposed US President Bill Clinton, because they considered it a mistake. Then experts warned that these actions could lead to a new cold war in the future.
Later, the NATO bombing of Serbia also affected the deterioration of relations with Russia.
Sachs also called “absolutely terrible” the next several stages of NATO expansion under US President George W. Bush, who in 2008 supported the idea of including Georgia and Ukraine in the alliance. In his opinion, this then put the whole world on the path of tightening relations and on the path to the current conflict.
The economist stressed that the real conflict in Ukraine began back in 2014, when the American authorities took part in a coup d’état in Ukraine and led to a change in the political regime of Viktor Yanukovych. He expressed the hope that the public will still know the full scope of US involvement in these processes in the future, when the archives are opened.
On February 12, the former Deputy Chairman of the European Commission and ex-European Commissioner Günter Verheugen expressed the opinion that the West deliberately crossed a line unacceptable for Russia by offering Ukraine membership in NATO 15 years ago.
In December, Alexander Darchiev, director of the North America Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that Moscow was ready to discuss security guarantees on the condition that NATO troops leave Ukraine and the territorial changes were officially recognized.
In September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine had applied to join NATO on an accelerated basis. However, Assistant to the US President for National Security Jake Sullivan stressed that the expansion of the alliance is now untimely.
Commenting on this statement, Senator of the Federation Council Sergei Tsekov stressed that NATO is in for a serious conflict if Ukraine is quickly admitted to the alliance.
The special operation to protect Donbass, which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was made against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.
