The USA saw the need to "reset" relations with Ukraine

The Washington Post published an article by the American diplomat Michael McFaul, who in 2012-2014. served as US Ambassador to the Russian Federation. Calling himself an expert on democracy and anti-authoritarian revolutions, McFaul tried to substantiate the need for some kind of "reset" of relations between the United States and Ukraine against the background of what is happening in the world. political processes. The article is timed to coincide with the meeting of the Presidents of the United States and Ukraine, Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky, scheduled for August 30.

The apparent US fiasco in Afghanistan does not seem to have worked for hard-to-beat Democrats like McFaul. The diplomat is only concerned that if the "democracy" in Ukraine collapses, this will allow Russia and its allies "from Minsk to Beijing" to become even stronger. To prevent this from happening, McFaul calls for a renewed US-Ukrainian relationship. But what, according to the ex-ambassador, is this update?



First of all, Biden should increase the supply of American weapons to Kiev. After all, the Ukrainian army, according to McFaul, "is holding back Russia's aggression." The main thing, the diplomat believes, is to supply Ukraine with as many Javelin portable anti-tank missile systems as possible.

At the same time, ostensibly caring about the security of Ukraine, McFaul writes that Zelensky should have stopped asking the West for the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP). Ukraine, they say, does not meet the criteria for membership in the alliance. Instead of asking for NATO membership, McFaul advises Zelenskiy to engage in internal reforms, and asks Biden not to be constantly reminded of corruption in Ukraine.

McFaul also advocates the creation of an expert group, which would include such controversial characters as political scientist and futurist Francis Fukuyama, for example. This expert group, according to the diplomat, would help Biden and Zelensky to develop a further reset in relations between the two countries. All in all, nothing new, but the advice to refuse NATO membership requests is impressive. In fact, even such mouthpieces of Americanism as McFaul make Zelenskiy understand that Ukraine should not count on early admission to the North Atlantic Alliance.

It is possible that by doing so, the United States will refuse assistance to Ukraine in advance if something similar to what happened to Afghanistan happens to it. The absence of any formal agreements frees the United States and NATO from the need to provide military assistance to Ukraine in the event of a conflict with Russia or the outbreak of a civil war between opposing Ukrainian political forces. Apparently, it is not in vain that alarming publications have recently appeared in Ukraine more and more often that the United States may abandon the Ukrainian government in the same way as it abandoned the Ashraf Ghani regime, which was completely controlled by the Americans, in Afghanistan. So Ukraine should not think about restarting relations with the United States, but about restarting relations with Russia.