Moscow Accuses Itself

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – The Daily Vertical: Brian Whitmore – March 24, 2016)

Well, it was predictable, but Sergei Lavrov has not let us down.

He’s proven yet again the axiom that if you want to know what Russia is doing, pay close attention to what it accuses the West of doing.

The Russian foreign minister yesterday urged Europe to “put aside geopolitical games and come together, to prevent terrorists from controlling affairs on the continent.”

At the risk of stating the obvious, it is of course Russia — and not Europe — that has been playing geopolitical games.

Lavrov’s comments kicked off two days of furious diplomacy in Moscow, with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in town for talks on Syria and Ukraine.

Syria and Ukraine are, of course, two parts of the same geopolitical game for the Kremlin.

And the goal of that game is the destruction of the post-Cold War international security architecture.

To achieve that goal, Vladimir Putin’s regime has unleashed an unprecedented campaign of destabilization, chaos, confusion, and disruption.

They’ve used duplicity, diversion, and distraction.

They’ve done this in Ukraine. They’ve done it in Syria. And they’ve done it in Europe itself.

And now they’re trying to force the West to team up with Russia to fix the mess they themselves have nurtured and exploited.

This week should give us some idea of how much they have succeeded.
Article from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – ©2016 RFE/RL, Inc. Article also appeared at rferl.org/content/daily-vertical-transcript-moscow-accuses-itself/27632905.html

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