The message has been loud enough for even the willfully deaf to hear: Russia is warning the U.S., the U.K and NATO in general that they will be forced to act if NATO’s militarization up to Russia’s very borders does not cease—and most especially, the intention of opening NATO’s doors to Ukrainian membership. Over the last week, this message has been delivered by President Vladimir Putin himself on a number of occasions; by Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu; by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov; and of course by the fact of the emergency Putin-Xi video meeting. In the last 48 hours that message has been forcefully reiterated as follows:
• Putin spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron on Dec. 14 at the latter’s request, and the Kremlin reported that Putin “noted that the Ukrainian authorities are purposefully aggravating the situation on the line of contact, and are doing so with the complicity of a number of Western countries. In addition, modern weapons are being pumped into Ukraine, which poses a direct threat to Russia’s security.” Putin again insisted on “the importance of immediately launching international talks to develop legally stated guarantees to forestall NATO’s further eastward expansion and the deployment of weapons that threaten Russia in neighboring states.” (http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67362)
