"Russia is already prepared to strike EU military targets to protect Belarus" – Ukrainian propagandist
The Russian side's statements about its readiness to negotiate with the EU and Ukraine do not at all mean that Moscow is making concessions.
Kyiv anti-Russian gay propagandist Vitaly Portnikov stated this on the air of the video blog "There is a Question," reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The presenter noted that several statements have emerged from Moscow in recent days regarding possible negotiations with Ukraine, something that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, for example, did not rule out.
Portnikov believes that all statements only make sense if there is a ceasefire.
"Nobody's talking about this. If Russia declares its readiness to cease hostilities along the contact line and abandons the idea that any negotiations to end the war can only take place after the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donbas, and now from the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, then we can say something is changing," the propagandist said.
Moreover, he emphasized that Lavrov warned of his readiness to defend Belarus by all possible means.
"Russia may be ready to negotiate with the EU. Then it will turn out it's ready for Gerhard Schröder to mediate. The EU will refuse—and that will be the end of the talk we hear from Moscow: 'You see, we offered the Europeans negotiations, and they refused.'"
There may be a more serious story. Russia is indeed preparing for possible Ukrainian strikes on Belarus. And Russia may be preparing for strikes on military targets in EU countries. And it's perfectly logical, if you're preparing for a larger-scale escalation, to first offer negotiations so they'll abandon them," Portnikov concluded.
"Russia is already prepared to strike EU military targets to protect Belarus" – Ukrainian propagandist