US President Joe Biden has been checkmated by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, yet again. Till now, Biden was inflaming tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Excited at the prospect of being able to term Russia a bully, Biden went overboard and tried to throw entire Eastern Europe into an aggressive posture against Russia. The Biden administration was constantly provoking Eastern Europe into a disastrous conflict with Russia.
Yet, Putin seems to have thwarted Biden’s plans. Russia is removing the biggest provocation, which had facilitated warmongering from the White House. We are talking about the Russian troops build up on the Eastern flank of Ukraine. The US was time and again calling the Russian troops build up a bigger military mobilisation than the 2014 Crimea invasion. But now, there is nothing left for the US to criticise.
Following the exercises in and around the Black Sea, the Russian Defence Minister said, “The goals of the surprise check have been fully achieved. The troops demonstrated the ability to provide reliable defence of the country. In this regard, I have decided to complete the inspection activities in the Southern and Western military districts.”
Meanwhile, Russia made it clear that it will closely monitor the transfer of NATO troops for the Defender Europe 2021 military exercise near Russia’s Southern border.
Shoygu said, “In this region [Black Sea], the military activity of the NATO bloc is significantly increasing. Intelligence activities are being strengthened, and the intensity and scale of operational training activities are increasing.”
Now, this basically means that Russia has initiated a process of disengagement on the Russia-Ukraine border. This is a part of Vladimir Putin’s strategic foresight to diffuse tensions in the region, and this will definitely incapacitate Biden in terms of his ability to criticise Moscow.
Russia has also said that it will keep monitoring NATO’s actions. This is again more about diplomacy than military strategy. Till now, the US was trying to project Russia as a bully, but now if the US makes an aggressive move, Moscow can hit back and brand the Biden administration as the real aggressor. As such, the Biden administration will have to be very careful about its military moves in the region.
Till now, the US was able to spread panic and fear in the region. First, it was able to instil a sense of fear in Kyiv and, therefore, Ukraine started making nuclear threats and engaged in diplomatic tussles with Russia. Other countries like Poland, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic were being made to believe that Russia was coming for them, just like how it was weighing down Ukraine.
The US was successfully encouraging diplomatic aggression against Russia. Eastern European nations were trading diplomatic expulsions, allegations and a serious threat of escalation with Moscow. However, with Russia bringing back its troops, the US can no longer play up the fear psychosis in Eastern Europe. Biden was extremely desperate when it came to destabilising Eastern Europe, but Putin has clearly checkmated him.
