01.02.2022, Moscow.
A military provocation followed by a powerful wave of sanction pressure from the West would be the most dangerous scenario in Ukraine, said political scientist, assistant professor of the Department of Law of the Financial University at the Government of the Russian Federation Igor Semenovsky in an interview to a correspondent to the Rossa Primavera news agency on January 30.
“Of course, we should beware of any provocations forcing Russia to defend its citizens living in East Ukraine, to defend them with military force if the provocations are military. These risks certainly exist,” the expert said.
He stressed that in the event of provocations, the mechanism of sanctions will be immediately activated. “And it will be of no importance who and when initiated it,” Semenovsky explained.
He also noted that this scenario has a kind of a balance associated with Ukraine’s understanding of its role as a pawn in this conflict.
“According to media reports, Zelensky believes (he has such a fear) that the USA and Russia could come to an agreement behind Ukraine’s back. This means it is not an actor, and it feels that it is only a pawn and a subject of trade in a struggle between great powers,” the political scientist explained this idea.
On January 31, the Ukrainian permanent representative to the UN Sergey Kislitsa said that Ukraine expects a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Donbass and Crimea without planning any offensive against the DPR and the LPR.
The same day Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal suggested that his colleague from the European Commission should not dramatize the situation, and stressed that Russian army’s concentration at the Ukrainian border does not mean “formation of attack groups.”
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
