Andrea Riccardi
March 29, 2024
Vladimir Putin has dismissed the possibility of his country attacking a NATO member as “pure nonsense”, but issued a warning: any Western air base hosting US-made F-16 fighter jets destined for deployment in Ukraine would be a “legitimate objective” for the Kremlin forces. The words of the Russian president, during a conversation with the military in the Tver region, came the day after Volodymyr Zelensky’s appeal to “accelerate the deliveries of the F-16s”, something defined as vital by the Ukrainian leader.
Kiev is waiting for the delivery of the fighters from its Western partners – which will increase military pressure on Russia – while the training of Ukrainian pilots on these warplanes has been going on for months. Putin’s threat aims to warn the West against providing air bases from which the F-16s could launch sorties against the Kremlin forces: they would become “a legitimate target”, he warned, specifying however that the F-16s in every case «they will not change the situation on the battlefield. We will destroy their warplanes just as we destroy their tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment, including multiple rocket launchers.”
“It seems like a lot of propaganda to me,” was the comment of Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. Hitting NATO airports? “I don’t think he will do it” and “I don’t think Putin would want a world war, also because then he wouldn’t win it, so I don’t think it suits him”, he remarked. Investigations into the attack on the Crocus City Hall continue in Russia and Moscow continues to reiterate the Ukrainian lead, beyond the jihadist claim: according to Russian investigators it emerged that the attackers received large sums of money and cryptocurrencies from Kiev. And while the repression saw the arrest of five journalists, Moscow returned to the hypothesis put forward by Emmanuel Macron of sending Western soldiers to Ukraine. «To the current Western rulers and the new “Napoleons” who once again threaten to send troops to the East, we advise not to forget the lessons of history», declared the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, who recalled the 210 ° anniversary of the «victorious conclusion of the foreign campaign of the Russian army of 1813-1814» and the defeat of «Napoleon’s Great Army».
Meanwhile, Moscow is looking at cooperation with Pyongyang. The director of Russian foreign intelligence SVR, Sergei Naryshkin, visited North Korea from March 25 to 27. The aim was to deepen cooperation and discuss regional security more generally, to address “the ever-increasing espionage and conspiracy actions by hostile forces”. However, it is yellow on a Russian fighter plane that crashed in the Black Sea off the Crimean peninsula: the governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, reported that the pilot managed to jump from the aircraft and was recovered by rescuers about 200 meters from the crash, but did not provide details on the possible causes, while Ukrainian media, citing the Crimean Wind Telegram channel, reported that the jet was shot down by Russian fire.
On the European front, news has arrived from Poland and the Czech Republic of investigations into alleged Russian activities under investigation. The Polish Internal Security Agency (ABW) has announced that it is “conducting operations as part of an investigation into espionage activities on behalf of Russia against states and institutions of the European Union”, while the Security Information Service ( Bis) of the Czech Republic revealed a network organized by Russia that would try to influence this year’s European elections to choose the European Parliament in various European countries, including Germany, France and Belgium.
Glimpses of negotiations are coming from former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who said he believes his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin could help end the war in Ukraine. «We have been working together sensibly for many years. Maybe this can still help find a negotiated solution, I don’t see any other solution,” said Schroeder, a friend of Putin since he was chancellor from 1998 to 2005 and continues to work for the predominantly Russian companies that operate the Nord Stream gas pipelines through the Baltic Sea. Although he described the Russian attack on Ukraine as a “fatal mistake”, he has not distanced himself from Putin and who knows, he may not be able to mediate to open a diplomatic path to peace.
