The United States and the European Union are far from Ukraine. But in the meantime, something is moving…

The situation in Ukraine shows the fissures within the Euro-Atlantic system as to what to do with Russia. It is President Biden himself who recognizes certain distances, and at the same time in Europe …

A phone call to Kiev and one to Paris: Wednesday evening, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio Hear their counterparts from the United States and France on the eve of the Transatlantic Quartet meeting in Berlin which will see the participation of the German Minister, along with these two Annala Barbuk and the Minister British James Cleverly (Secretary’s place les trusstravel to Australia).

In the middle of conversations with Anthony Blink e Yves Le DrianUkraine, with the West fears a Russian invasion. This is the reason why the US Secretary of State organized a quick trip to Europe: Kiev, Berlin, Geneva (for a confrontation with her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov) and finally Brussels to the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday.

To Blinken, who highlighted the critical role of Italy, NATO and the European Union for the security of the Old Continent, Di Maio reiterated the opportunity to continue, after the NATO-Russia Council meeting last week, efforts to start the political dialogue process with Moscow, and stressed the need to ensure coordination between allies to this end in order to develop a unified, balanced and proportionate response that discourages further tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Finally, he expressed his desire for continued coordination also between the United States and the European Union on the file. With Le Drian, on the other hand, he wished that all parties would continue their efforts to favor a diplomatic solution, and engage in a constructive political dialogue process.

As the President of the United States also admitted Joe Biden, NATO does not have a unified position on Ukraine. This is the Russian leader Russian President Vladimir Putin He knows her well. He takes advantage of this in his maneuvers on the Ukrainian border (especially on the Belarusian front), and in an attempt to divide the Western Front. On the other hand, Putin’s goal is to also use the Ukraine issue as a tool to deepen bilateral dialogue with Washington. Twice, to open and in December 2021, the increase in military deployment on the Ukrainian border led to a direct conversation with Biden: now the Kremlin does not exclude the possibility of a new conversation between the leaders, but only after the United States. Countries will have responded to Russian requests with security guarantees. On Wednesday, Moscow issued a kind of ultimatum: “The countdown has begun” for NATO’s acceptance of the declared requests, the Kremlin said. Either the West will accept our proposals or other ways will be found to protect Russia’s security.

It is precisely in this scenario that the lyrics Emmanuel Macron During his speech at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The French president made it clear that in the coming weeks, the European proposal regarding the creation of a new security and stability regime must be finalized. He added that we should build it among the Europeans, then share it with our allies within the framework of NATO, and then bring it up later during negotiations with Russia, and he also spoke about “dialogue with Russia” and tells his vision of “Europe as”. The power of peace and balance.” The words that have combined with the silences on the tensions between Lithuania and China seem to show that Julista Macron is determined to take on the legacy of the former German chancellor Angela Merkel As the leader of the European Union and inappease With those forces that NATO identifies as the main threats.

Macron calls for a parallel dialogue between the EU and Russia, but not only can it cause tensions with the US and may have little substantive effect: Russia wants direct dialogue with the US and Putin has created reinforcement on the border to also break the Euro-Atlantic front. In Moscow they may not care much about the Paris proposal.

Moreover, it may be difficult for Eastern Europe to accept this situation, as countries such as Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland may view these distances as cracks. On the other hand, it was President Biden himself who spoke of cracks in NATO when it came to how willing some European countries were to punish Putin for aggression against Ukraine. Among other things, the American himself spoke of “severe economic sanctions” and continues to adhere to the line of non-military reaction that Blinken revealed weeks ago. Biden also left a comment on the possibility that a Russian “mini-raid”, possibly referring to the annexation of Donbass, could lead to a slight response. from Kiev Matthew Chance From CNN He said Ukrainian officials “viewed those statements with horror.”