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Russia Role in Ukraine Stirs New Alarm
Editor's Note: There will be no Daily Brief sent on Monday, September 1. The DB will resume on Tuesday, September 2.
Pro-Russian
rebels fighting in eastern Ukraine said they would comply with a
Kremlin request that they open a "humanitarian corridor" to allow the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops (Reuters), a day after Kiev accused Moscow of illegally entering the country. NATO, which convened an emergency meeting (FT) on Friday
to address the worsening crisis, blamed Russia for violating Ukraine's
sovereignty and engaging in direct military operations to support the rebels (BBC).
At a press conference in Washington, U.S. president Barack Obama
accused Russia of training, arming, and sending troops into Ukraine,
warning Moscow that it faced further isolation (Guardian).
Analysis
"For
the first time in a quarter century, NATO members—notably the Baltic
States—have legitimate cause to fear for their security. But in fact,
the ongoing Ukraine crisis has highlighted NATO's fissures.
Rather than rejuvenating the transatlantic alliance, Russia's
aggression threatens to underscore NATO's divisions and
vulnerabilities," write CFR's Stewart Patrick and Daniel Chardell.
"For some of NATO's most senior military strategists and for many of the most important figures in international affairs the post cold war world is at an inflection point:
a common orthodoxy in Western thought – the notion of a globalising
world in which greater prosperity was ultimately analogous to stability –
has been again thrown into contention," writes Sam Jones for the Financial Times.
"NATO could probably have provided more robust support for the Ukrainian military.
The theory is deterrence: if Putin believes that the Ukrainian military
is more capable than it is, he might think twice about doing something
more adventurous," says CFR's Janine Davidson in a CFR interview.
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