Yesterday, as bloody violence continued to increase in Ukrainian cities, Germany's foreign minister warned that the country was on the "threshold of war." Britain's foreign secretary said Russia was creating a pretext for military intervention. Today, Vladimir Putin stunned diplomats by announcing a troop pull-back from the Ukrainian border and voicing support for upcoming elections. The Pentagon sees no evidence of troop movements yet, but Russia's President may have undercut Western accusations that he's trying to scuttle Ukraine's democracy. We hear from Moscow and Ukraine. Will European observers assist a transition from confrontation to dialogue? Has Putin's announcement demonstrated how completely he's in control? What's the lesson for the Obama Administration and superpower politics?
Is Vladimir Putin Changing the Game in Ukraine?
More
- Beinart on claims that US policies abroad will embolden enemies, undermine allies
- Carnegie Moscow Center on the crisis in Ukraine
- Center for Strategic and International Studies on the crisis in Ukraine
- Denyer on Putin's call to postpone referendum on Eastern Ukraine
- Gessen on whether Ukraine can hold together
- Kuchins' 'The Russia Balance Sheet'
Credits
Guests:
- Dmitri Trenin - Carnegie Moscow Center - @DmitriTrenin
- Simon Denyer - Washington Post - @simondenyer
- Keith Gessen - novelist and journalist - @keithgessen
- Andrew Kuchins - Center for Strategic and International Studies - @CSISRussia
- Peter Beinart - editor-at-large of Jewish Currents, author of The Beinart Notebook Substack, professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York - @PeterBeinart