When President Putin speaks one must carefully listen to what he says, but, at the same time one must not forget what he has said on previous occasions, and, one must be conscious of what he did not want to say this time !
Putin was worried about events in Ukraine and called for a Diplomatic Conference, which was held in Geneva on Thursday, 17 April 2014. All sides signed the Official Communiqué, which stipulated that Protestors in Ukraine should disarm and disband. Two days later three Russians were killed in cross-fire in the Donetsz region.
Putin is again worried ! The Russian Parliament has authorised him to do what is necessary to preserve Russian interests but he has said he does not want to use force in Ukraine ! There are however about 40 000 troops on the Russian side of the border with Ukraine completing Military Exercices ! Should one imagine that they are merely preparing for the the May Day festivities in Red Square and that Russia is much too small to have anywhere else for its army to prepare ?
Perhaps another possibility is that Putin, who managed to protect the Russian Navy by annexing Crimea in a bloodless coup, now wants to annex the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in East Ukraine where 60% of the population is ethnic Russian but also where most of the Ukrainian factories are to be found ! Their biggest customer at present is Russia ! The interim Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, seems to be of this opinion !
There is perhaps a further aim on the "Putin Horizon". The Ukrainian Presidential Elections are scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 25, 2014. This is also the last day for all the EU Parliamentary elections when the whole of Europe will be preoccupied with the results !
Can one be sure that Putin or Russia will remain calm ? Or will Ethnic Russians clamour for their "Mother country" and prevent the Presidential Election in Ukraine to be held peacefully ?
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