Will 2021 be the year that Vladimir Putin uses armed force to show the West he is not afraid of American pressure? That is a question being asked by analysts in Ukraine after tensions between Moscow and Washington were stoked by the accusation that Russia sought to manipulate the US presidential election.
The idea that the simmering conflict in Ukraine would burst into new fighting comes after a belligerent speech Putin made at the Davos Forum at the end of January. The Russian president said that ‘foreign policy propaganda rhetoric’ was growing, and he expected ‘practical actions’ by America against Russia to become more aggressive. Such a game with no rules, he said, ‘critically increases the risk of unilateral use of military force’.
Ukraine fears a Putin strike
Growing tension with the US and pending Duma elections could push the Russian leader into action, writes Konstantin Eggert
The World Today
Published 2 April 2021
Updated 1 April 2021 — 3 minute READ
Image — A poster of Vladimir Putin in a T-shirt with the slogan ‘Crimea’ is carried through Moscow to a political cartoon exhibition
