#Washington warns #Moscow of the move .. #Putin and the merger process in #Ukraine

 "Field progress in parallel with actual steps for annexation"; This is what the United States of America noted, in its latest comment on the events in Ukraine.

The White House said that Russia is paving the way for the annexation of Ukrainian lands and installing illegitimate officials to be its proxies in the areas it controls, as it seeks to impose its full control over the parts it has made in eastern Ukraine.

"The Russians are preparing to install proxy officials, make the ruble an official currency, and force residents to apply for citizenship," said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

Crimea scheme is back

In the middle of this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree accelerating the granting of Russian citizenship to all residents of Ukraine, after it was previously limited to residents of the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine.

The decision reviewed the categories that can apply for Russian citizenship, namely: residents of Lugansk and Donetsk, and permanent residents of Ukraine, including those who previously possessed Russian citizenship and gave it up.

In that corner, Mustafa Khaled Al-Mohammed, a political analyst and academic in international relations, says that Putin's recent decree reaffirmed Western accusations against him that he seeks to "restore the Soviet Union", especially since he once said that "the collapse of the Soviet Union is the greatest geopolitical disaster in the world." Twentieth century".

The academic in international relations in Moscow added, during his statements to "Sky News Arabia", that this announcement at this particular time is a strong indication that the stage of the actual and official annexation of these regions in Ukraine to Russia has already begun, as the Russian army and its allied forces control them; It seems that the matter is no longer confined to the Donbass republics, as it will extend to the rest of the Ukrainian regions under Russian control, such as Kherson, whose residents were handed over the first batch of Russian passports last month.

And he continued during his statements, "Now I think that Moscow is provoking NATO and showing it with a position of complete weakness of what is happening in Ukraine, as Russia seeks to send a strong message to America, the West and NATO, that Moscow will not concede any military victory in exchange for NATO's non-expansion to the east and non-joining." Ukraine to NATO, and that if this is not achieved through diplomatic dialogue, Moscow has other means by which it confronts Ukraine and the West.

Will Russia succeed in the integration process of the liberated areas? And here, Mustafa Al-Mohammed, an academic in international relations in Moscow, says, "We must first be aware that Moscow has raised the ceiling of its goals in Ukraine and surpassed it to reach the idea of ​​restoring the glories of the Soviet Union and including all the countries of the Union directly, as is happening in Ukraine, or in an indirect control method such as Belarus; today we have made sure that The situation cannot be resolved through diplomacy. This we see from the way in which Russian President Vladimir Putin has dealt with the reactions of NATO countries."

 

Meanwhile, Washington confirmed that it possesses intelligence information on how Russia laid the groundwork for the annexation of the Ukrainian lands it controls, in direct violation of Ukraine's sovereignty.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby added, "It is the same method that Russia used in 2014 when it announced its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea." The international community considers the annexation of Crimea illegal.

 How will Washington respond?

Washington and its allies from the West see that Putin's move regarding nationality, language, and penetration into the joints of the Ukrainian cities he has taken control of is a strong indication that the stage of the actual and official annexation of these regions has already begun, other than the continuation of the process for all of Ukraine.

Commenting on these steps, Washington said that it will announce in the next few days a new arms package for Ukraine; The package is expected to include US mobile rocket launchers "HIMARS", and shells for multiple launch rocket systems, in addition to artillery ammunition.

The United States has provided $8 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the war began, including $2.2 billion last month.

In this context, Kamil Gil Katy, a Polish politician and media figure, says that the response of the West and Washington to Moscow will not be only militarily through support, but through a comprehensive economic war of destruction, through packages of devastating sanctions unprecedented in ancient and contemporary history.

Camille Gil-Katy stressed, during his statements to "Sky News Arabia", the need for European action towards isolating Russia from its regional and international spheres, and trying to paralyze the economy, in parallel with the path of strengthening military and financial support for Ukraine.

 

 Washington and the West are seeking to impose more pressure on Moscow in order to stop the Russian operation in Ukraine, by targeting gold exports in the next set of sanctions, according to what the G7 countries decided at the end of last June.