“Vladimir Putin Acts Like A Tyrant”

Steven Petrov

The Paw Print

“The military power of Kiev can not defeat the Russian army, so a political resolution must be found”

The international news agency, Reuters, has reported that the United Kingdom has expressed its strong disagreement with the way the Russian President Vladimir Putin has acted during the 1-year long political and military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. He was categorized as a “tyrant” by minister Phillip Hammond, who also expressed his concerns in regards to the military superiority that Russia has over its opponent, Ukraine. Hammond’s reasoning for naming Putin a “tyrant” comes from few facts that the UK Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs stressed over in his speech and clearly pointed out that Putin had sent military troops crossing an international border occupying a foreign territory in the 21^st century, which is absolutely unacceptable in today’s world. The official statement of Hammond came one day after the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, expressed her view that the continuous sending of weapons and military supplies to Ukraine will not help resolve this complex political, economical and military conflict. Merkel was strongly criticized by the US politicians, for her statement. Hammond also announced that the United Kingdom doesn’t plan on sending weapons and military supplies to the Ukrainian army and will focus its entire efforts and influence on trying to resolve the conflict politically. He encouraged any further sanctions by the European Union towards Russia. However, The Minister of Foreign affairs of UK mentioned that his country could change its policy in regards to the sending of any military help to Ukraine, if the crisis escalates further more.

The US also asked those that are leading the military actions in the Eastern part of Ukraine for patience and understanding, warning that the military actions and continued hostility may ruin any political negotiations for the resolution of the crisis, which will bring the long awaited peace in the region, which the majority of the people are looking for. The speaker of the Department of State, Jen Psaki, expressed US’s worries about the most recent military actions that took place in Debaltseve and Mariupol on Sunday, February 8^th.  She also reassured the European Union that it has The United States’ full support in the political peace negotiations that it has been engaging in. Psaki also emphasized on the importance of the protection of the sovereignty and the territorial entirety of Ukraine and that every negotiation should never neglect either of the two.

There have been talks about a possible meeting of the leaders of Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia, this Wednesday in Minsk, Russia with the primary goal of reaching a resolution on the major issues and ending this prolonged and disturbing conflict. Angela Merkel, François Hollande, Petro Poroshenko and Vladimir Putin will all bring their ideas, demands and conditions for coming up with a peace treaty. The leaders are well aware that understanding, tolerance and mutual effort are the keys in coming up with a positive solution.