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Opinion: Discipline key to Russia diplomacy

Photo by Doug Mills of The New York Times / President Joe Biden greets President Vladimir Putin of Russia as they arrive for a meeting in Geneva on June 16, 2021. To the Biden administration, the negotiations that began in earnest on Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, in Geneva are about defusing the chances of a major war in Europe — potentially ignited by a Russian invasion of Ukraine — and upholding the principle that nations do not rewrite their borders by force.
Photo by Doug Mills of The New York Times / President Joe Biden greets President Vladimir Putin of Russia as they arrive for a meeting in Geneva on June 16, 2021. To the Biden administration, the negotiations that began in earnest on Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, in Geneva are about defusing the chances of a major war in Europe — potentially ignited by a Russian invasion of Ukraine — and upholding the principle that nations do not rewrite their borders by force. Photo by Doug Mills of The New York Times / President Joe Biden greets President Vladimir Putin of Russia as they arrive for a meeting in Geneva on June 16, 2021. To the Biden administration, the negotiations that began in earnest on Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, in Geneva are about defusing the chances of a major war in Europe — potentially ignited by a Russian invasion of Ukraine — and upholding the principle that nations do not rewrite their borders by force.

By The Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial board / Tribune News Service 4 min read

The current conflicts involving Russia, Ukraine, the U.S., NATO and Europe are complex.

The principle, however, is not. In fact, it was summarized on Monday by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman after meeting her Russian counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

“We will not allow anyone to slam closed NATO’s open-door policy, which has always been central to the NATO alliance,” Sherman told reporters in Geneva. “We will not forgo bilateral cooperation with sovereign states that wish to work with the United States, and we will not make decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine, about Europe without Europe, or about NATO without NATO.”

The “anyone” Sherman referred to in this case (most cases, actually) is Russia, whose repressive president, Vladimir Putin, has demanded deep concessions from the West to defuse a crisis he created about Ukraine.

It’s not the first time. In 2014, Russia illegally cleaved Crimea and since then has deeply destabilized eastern Ukraine, resulting in a low-grade war with high numbers of casualties – at least 13,000 killed so far. Scores more could be killed if the already deployed Russian forces of more than 100,000 engage in a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That’s what is implicitly at risk if Russia’s demands – already labeled as nonstarters – aren’t met.