Putin needs the West to beg him for meeting

The Caribbean crisis was one of the most difficult tests in the relationship between the USA and the USSR. Then the threat of nuclear war arose in connection with the desire of the Russian leadership to place its missiles on the territory of communist Cuba, literally a few kilometers from the American coast.  The United States reacted harshly, the conflict seemed almost inevitable.  It was possible to stop him only with the help of the so-called "shuttle" (hidden) diplomacy.  The meeting between the US President John Kennedy and the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Nikita Khrushchev, is considered in history to have prevented a real nuclear conflict, which could have ended in the mutual destruction of the two states that had, at that time, huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons.

Now, as we can see, history may repeat itself, albeit in a slightly different form.  After all, Vladimir Putin believes that the task of a nuclear attack on Ukraine will be an attack inflicted by a nuclear power on a country that does not possess such weapons. It will not cause fatal consequences for the Russian Federation.

In the civilized world, they think differently.  Although so far no one has clearly said what the "catastrophic consequences" of Russia's use of nuclear weapons mean, and how this use can be stopped.

The US president emphasized that the United States is conducting negotiations through diplomatic channels, trying to explain to the Russian Federation all the dangers of using nuclear weapons against Ukraine by the Russian leadership. However, at the same time, Biden said that Vladimir Putin may have such thoughts just in anticipation of a possible defeat of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. And we have been seeing exactly this defeat for several months.  The fact that the Russian president's ambitious plans to conquer Ukrainian territory and create a traitorous puppet government in our country are not being implemented.

It seems that Russia is not even interested in how other states will react. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, former President of Russia Dmytro Medvedev, who is called the voice of Vladimir Putin, says that Western countries will not dare to respond to Russia if it uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine. That is, Putin, Medvedev, and other representatives of the highest Russian political leadership are confident of their impunity.

So, the task of the civilized world, if it really wants to prevent Armageddon, is to make Vladimir Putin understand that he will not be able to get out of the likely situation with impunity.

However, the Russian dictator has already made certain diplomatic moves. I mean the words of the President of the USA that a meeting with the President of the Russian Federation, in the event that Putin decides to participate in the G20 summit, may take place. Biden categorically did not abandon the very idea of ​​such a meeting.

So far, both the US president and the secretary of state have ruled out such a possibility. They emphasized that after Russia's attack on Ukraine, such negotiations do not make any sense. Until Russia abandons forceful pressure.

It is obvious that nuclear blackmail, the beginning of the Third World War with apocalyptic consequences for the United States and other countries of the civilized West, can force the US president to dialogue with the Russian leader. This meeting may be caused by the hope that after several months of war in Ukraine, Putin will realize all the dangers of his further course: both for the continuation of his rule in the Russian Federation, and for the Russian Federation itself. They said that the United States will be able to force the Russian president, of course, not only with the help of tough demands, but also with the promise of some economic opportunities, to stop the war with Ukraine and withdraw its troops from its territory.

However, in my opinion, any dialogue with Putin is doomed to complete failure.  Putin does not understand and does not want to understand the language of diplomacy.  He only understands the language of power.  And the fact that they already agree to talk with him can be seen as the need to put as much pressure on the civilized world as possible. Pressure by escalation of military actions, new political decisions on the annexation of Ukrainian territories.

If anyone wants to stop Putin, they are unlikely to achieve any real success in negotiations with the Russian dictator.

And I will add. The Kremlin has not yet answered the question of whether Putin will attend the G20 summit, precisely because it wants to keep those who would like such talks in suspense.  Putin needs the West to beg him for such a meeting. And, of course, during such a likely meeting, he would make the necessary compromises for the Russian president. As the same Medvedev said, Russia is not going to lay down its arms, but intends to win the economic war against the West.

With people who expect their opponents to kneel before them, it is unlikely that any reasonable compromise can be found.

About the author: Vitaly Portnikov, writer, journalist.

The editors do not always share the opinions expressed by the authors of the blogs.