Russia vs. Ukraine Redux?
Russia vs. Ukraine Photo by ide alien on Unsplash Mapping the Way Forward from the Recent Past. I n April 2014, because of Ukrainian-Russian tensions, I quoted historian Stephen Cohen: “I think that we are three steps from war with Russia, two steps from a Cuban missile crisis.” Now, seven years later, New York Times Moscow correspondent Andrew Kramer writes of “the largest military buildup along the border with Ukraine since the outset of Kyiv’s war with Russian-backed separatists seven years ago. . . . The [Russian] mobilization is setting off alarms in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, European capitals and Washington.” On 20 April Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Ukrainian TV viewers of the possibility of war, urged Russian President Putin “to step back from the brink,” and proposed a meeting with him. Only on 22 April did Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announce that Russia would begin withdrawing military forces fr...