Russia must face strong response if it violates potential ceasefire — former CIA chief

Espreso correspondent Yulia Zubchenko reported this.

“There are ongoing discussions in Ukraine about peacekeeping forces. Ukraine does not need anyone to help maintain peace if Russia stops shooting at Ukraine and continues its offensive operations. This is not the former Yugoslavia or Bosnia and Herzegovina, where I spent a year as the head of peacekeeping operations,” Petraeus said.

In his opinion, Ukrainian security forces are capable of maintaining peace if Russia ceases its war. However, Petraeus believes that the real key to peace is having a guarantee of what will be done if Russia violates the terms of a possible ceasefire agreement.

“It must not only be a military response. It should also include financial, economic, and diplomatic measures, such as the seizure of $300 billion frozen in European banks, even tougher sanctions against Russia, diplomatic isolation of Russia, and all of this,” said the former CIA director.

He emphasized that within the framework of a possible ceasefire agreement, Russia must understand that if it violates the agreement, it will face a “very strong response.”

Petraeus added that this message must also be conveyed to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to prevent him from “returning to his twisted, distorted, revanchist, and revisionist history that led him to attempt to subjugate Ukraine to Russia once again, instead of recognizing it as an independent, sovereign country.”

• In June last year, Petraeus warned the West that Vladimir Putin does not intend to stop at Ukraine and that his victory there would mean a war against NATO.