Another possible reason could be closer to home for Putin as he faces parliamentary elections in September and a continuing mass movement supporting his jailed political rival Alexei Navalny.
Being seen to be defending embattled Russians in Ukraine could be something Russian voters could get behind, while at the same time distracting them from the apparent machinations of Putin’s most vocal critic Navalny. Perhaps it’s one or both, or maybe it’s history doing what history does best, repeating itself.
Russia has long made its feelings on Ukraine’s continued desire for NATO membership as clear as a bottle of vodka, and with Ukrainian President Zelensky recently imploring NATO to speed up its membership possibly reigniting the current tensions.
Coupled with the fact that NATO has also been actively helping Ukraine’s military with modernization, training and joint exercises, plus they received Western arms including US Javelin anti-tank missiles.
Whatever happens, it seems unlikely that Russia would risk a full scale conflict with Ukraine knowing all too well that the Western powers would not only come to Ukraine’s aid but will likely increase the supply of military equipment.
As suggested at the start of this piece, it might just be Putin testing Biden’s resolve, as his predecessor was somewhat of a cheerleader for the Russian leader and Biden is clearly not.
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