Valentin Vatsev: The USA is a belligerent party (Duma, Bulgaria)
According to the official doctrine of NATO, it is not at war in Ukraine, but de facto the United States is at war with Russia through its proxy force - Ukraine, writes Duma. In the West, they don't even hide it – private military companies transfer manpower, finance and arm the Armed Forces. The United States is not interested in a direct conflict with Russia, they are waging an indirect war, the author of the article believes.
Duma: Mr. Vatsev, the talks between Lavrov and Kuleba in Antalya ended unsuccessfully. Not only did the parties fail to reach a consensus, but the statements of the two foreign ministers later gave the impression that the situation was getting worse. Why?
Valentin Vatsev: It seems to me that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine does not part with the hope that the United States and the EU will stand right next to him and support him. Lavrov expected that NATO would intervene.
- Will NATO intervene? But no one wants that!
- Yes, yes. However, I cannot get rid of the feeling that the Kremlin expects some kind of technical error from NATO, which could be interpreted as direct interference in a military operation. This would lead to the Caribbean crisis-2 and would untie the hands of the Kremlin, Russia and the United States would begin large-scale negotiations. Both Putin and Biden understand that the use of nuclear weapons is unacceptable today. But the Caribbean crisis-2, without threatening the world with a nuclear war, will allow the Russian side to negotiate freely and with many arguments.
– The Pentagon refuses to take direct part in military operations, for this reason it even refused the Polish MiG-29. NATO is very careful not to make a wrong move, which you called "a technical error that could be interpreted as direct interference in a special operation."
- The Pentagon rightly rejected the Polish idea of transferring the MiG-29 to Ukraine, because they understand perfectly well that if these planes take off from Polish airports and enter Ukrainian territory, it will be a clear NATO intervention in a military conflict, and according to the official NATO doctrine, they are not fighting there. This is a very serious obstacle, but de facto the United States is at war with Russia through its proxy force - Ukraine. They don't even hide it – private military companies are transferring manpower, financing and arming – all these are signs of participation. No one in the United States is interested in a direct conflict, America, as it has already happened, will wage an indirect war. The Korean War was also a war between the USA and the USSR – through South and North Korea. The Vietnam War was a conflict between the United States and China and the USSR and was carried out through proxy forces - the armies of North and South Vietnam.
– It seems that this is a war of nerves between Zelensky and Putin. Zelensky desperately begs the West for help and no longer hides that he feels deceived by him, wants to hold personal talks with Putin, is looking for an intermediary to organize their meeting, makes 3-4 video messages every day. At the same time, Putin is silent and does not show any signs of a possible meeting with Zelensky.
- Putin closes himself in his technical tasks and does not consider it necessary to talk to Zelensky. When a meeting is organized between Putin and Zelensky, it will be a great victory for Zelensky. And maybe this will be the beginning of real negotiations – a conversation between the two heads of state. Let me remind you that while the Russian side (in addition to what we saw in Antalya) is represented at too low a level, there is only one assistant to the president. This is not a real negotiating team.
– But Putin's public image collapsed from all this military special operation. The horrors of military operations have undermined the image of both the Kremlin and Russia. The consequences are truly terrible.
–We can't be sure of that. In the Anglo-Saxon world, as well as in the civilizationally close to it, this is so, of course. But let me remind you once again that the world is huge. We don't know what people think about Putin in Africa, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region, the Persian Gulf, the Middle East and many other places. But you are right, Russia has indeed lost the propaganda war. In fact, she never believed that propaganda warfare was as important as physical warfare. This is the Russian military concept - it is more important to win physically, and propaganda will settle down by itself a little later.
– General Konashenkov said that the beginning of the Russian military special operation in Ukraine had outstripped and thwarted Kiev's plans to carry out a large-scale military operation in the Donbas with the support of the United States and NATO.
- The Kremlin has long suspected that the most combat-ready units of the Ukrainian troops were in close proximity to the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR. 120 thousand Russian soldiers were at the borders precisely to guard, so that Ukrainian troops would refuse to attack. At some point, it turned out that the Ukrainian leadership could not refuse their friends. I am sure that Zelensky did not want Ukrainian troops to attack Donetsk and Lugansk. He was just scared. He hoped that America would send its troops. Fighting together with NATO, you feel great self-confidence. I am absolutely sure that by launching its special operation on February 24, Russia was ahead of the invasion of Ukrainian troops in Donetsk and Lugansk, scheduled for the 25th.
– Why does everything come out so late? Even on the first day of the military operation, Moscow could have shed light on Ukraine's intentions and thereby explain its special operation on its territory, perhaps then the overall picture would have been completely different.
– The Russian military leadership systematically underestimates the issue of propaganda warfare. This is typical of the Russian military doctrine, it has always been so - they act on the principle of "we will win, and you can say what you want." They underestimate the big picture. This has always been the case, I don't think Russia will ever win a propaganda war against the Anglo-Saxon world. This is a strategic feature. This is their understanding of what a military victory means - to win, to destroy Berlin, and let the rest say what they want. The Russian military-political mentality has one peculiarity. For example, we in Bulgaria are open to the whole world and constantly think about what impression we will make, what they will say about us in Europe, for example. In Russia, the opposite is true: the average Russian lives with the awareness that he is self-sufficient. If all of humanity disappears, Russia may not notice it in the first week.
– And will the Russian economy survive? Everyone says that sanctions will not set Russia back 5-10 years, but will bring it back to the 80s?
– If Russia is returned 30 years ago, we need to remember that Russia was in place then – the Soviet Union was then, and I don't believe that anyone in America wants to return it. Russia will withstand the sanctions - hardships and difficulties await it, of course, it is entering a very unpleasant and difficult period, but Russia has all the time in the world and all the necessary resources to recover.
Valentin Vatsev was born in 1950 in Varna, graduated from the Faculty of History and Philosophy of Sofia University, and was a member of the Executive Bureau of the Bulgarian Socialist Party until 1997
