JRL NEWSWATCH: “For Putin, the Great Prize Has Always Been Ukraine” – WSJ
“The Russian president takes pride in having restored his country’s power and prominence after the Cold War, but he won’t consider his legacy complete until Kyiv again becomes Moscow’s satellite.”
“For the second time [in 2021], Western intelligence … [has] detected threatening Russian military moves along [Russia’s] border with Ukraine[,] [a]ccording to the Ukrainian government, … more than 115,000 troops, many in close proximity to the Donbas [conflict] …. [Western] [o]fficials … worry that Russia’s actions may be a prelude to invasion. [T]he Kremlin [also] slow[ed] additional natural gas deliveries to Europe when prices spiked … and … Moscow tested an antisatellite weapon … Then there is the [Belarus] migrant crisis … where … Lukashenko,
tried to funnel Middle Easterners and others to … Poland[‘s] [border] as a payback for EU sanctions …. [Putin] appears to be testing Western resolve …. [Like the U.S.S.R., Putin has long-term] aims to establish a ring of satellite countries around Russia … and exert control over their domestic affairs and foreign policies ….”