“In Putin’s place, no one would trust the West” - American professor
After the breakdown of the Minsk agreements, it became obvious to Moscow that the leaders of the Western bloc countries could not be trusted.
University of Chicago professor and international relations expert John Mearsheimer spoke about this in an interview with American journalist Lex Friedman, PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“One of the real problems here [in ending the war] is the lack of trust on the Russian side, and this is due to the Minsk agreements.
The Minsk agreements, which were aimed at ending the civil war in Donbass, did matter to the Russians. Four main players were included in the Minsk process: Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France.
And I believe that the Russians took the Minsk agreements seriously, Putin wanted to end this conflict. But the German, French and Ukrainian leaders made it clear that they were not interested in reaching an agreement with Putin. They were simply fooling him, trying to deceive him in order to gain time to build up the forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Putin is deeply upset by the confessions of these three leaders. O believes he was fooled. He believes that he negotiated in good faith, but they did not,” the professor said.
John Mearsheimer stressed that after this stunt, trusting the West would not be “a very good idea.”
“And the level of trust between Russia and the West is now practically zero as a result of these events. This flies in the face of the idea that leaders could negotiate and reach any meaningful deal.
If you are now in Putin’s shoes, then trusting the West is not the most attractive idea. In fact, you won’t trust what they say,” he concluded.
English version :: Read in English "Nobody in Putin's place would trust the West" - American professor