Pavel Sheremet, TV journalist
The Federation Council cancelled its permission to use the army in Ukraine which it had given to Putin in March on June 25th.
The Federation Council executed another one of Putin’s orders, who earlier proposed to abolish the order of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation from March 1st.
153 senators voted in support, one was against. The senators in both cases were united in their strive.
Everyone is worried about what this means.
In the long run, nothing. This looks like a cunning manoeuvre.
If they need to once more approve the usage of the army in Ukraine, the Federation Council will give this permission as operatively and unanimously as before.
The Chairman of the Federation Council Committee for Defence and Security Viktor Ozerov said that “if for this (the regulation of the situation in Ukraine) the President needs military intervention, the Committee will examine such a necessity operatively.”
However the employment of power since now does not necessitate any senators’ decisions. Besides, the military balance of power in the region is now not in Ukraine’s favor for sure.
PRD Prime Minister Boroday was against the deployment of the Russian armed forces, as the separatists in Donbas have enough power to counter the Ukrainian soldiers. There are about 10-15 mercenaries there, about as many constitute all the able units of the Ukrainian army.
The demonstrative approval of the “peaceful decision” by the Federation Council allows the Kremlin to go from virtual political games to real action.
Having sent a “positive signal” to the West, Moscow is trying to achieve the suspension of the new package of sanctions, get a moral advantage at the talks regarding Ukraine and may try to push for the main decision – the deployment of peace corps in the east of Ukraine.
Of course, they will be Russian peace corps.
The deployment of the peace corps is the repeat of the Georgian or Transnistrian scenario, which allows to formally preserve piece and establish factual Russian control over the region.
This way, they can weigh down the already weak Ukrainian government.
Moscow doesn’t need anything more. Nobody was ever going to free Donbas from “fascists and the Right Sector” and attach it to Russia, as there are no fascists there and the Russian budget is unlikely to withstand additional expenditures.
However, the problem of the land corridor to Crimea remains unsolved, but the solution of this problem may be postponed to a later date, when the economical crisis in Ukraine grows and leads to a new wave of the political crisis and emergence of new Euro-skeptics.
This is approximately how Kremlin analysts are thinking, to my subjective mind.
The latest manoeuvres of Putins are definitely not grounded in fear before the West. It is too late to be scared of weak Europe.
Source: Pravda
Translated by Mariya Shcherbinina