Ali Muhammad Khan
Biden, Putin’s exchange of war of words over Russia-Ukraine conflict ahead of its first anniversary signals an unending war in the region. With both sides shifting the blame of initiating the war, unready to go for a peaceful resolve and instead creating blocs against each other, it is imminent that their nefarious designs will escalate the regional conflict into ending up in another World War. US President Joe Biden, on Feb 20, made a symbolic move by paying a secretly organised visit to Ukraine. In his speech-earlier than Putin’s scheduled address to the nation- along side his Ukrainian counterpart Vladmyr Zelenhsky, the US President extended America’s unwavering support to Ukraine against Russian invasion and promised half a billion dollars in fresh arms delivery. Moreover, he also taunted Putin for failing in his ambitions to invade and control Ukraine, calling him a war criminal and pure thug. Adding that, the US and its allies will be putting more sanctions on Russia. Meanwhile, on Feb 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s address to the nation, scheduled earlier, was quite opposite to that of Biden, making it clear that the two leaders are trying to shape the world’s view of conflict. President Putin, giving a state-of-the-nation address ahead of his Ukraine invasion’s first anniversary, said it was they- the West and Ukrainian elites who started the war and not we-Russia. Instead, we are fighting for our own existence and to end this war. Commenting on Western sanctions, he said that they had not achieved anything and would not do so in future. Moreover, President Putin, in his speech, made a significant move by suspending Russian participation in the new START treaty and emphasised that the country had not withdrawn from the pact. The 2010 new START arms reduction treaty between the US and Russia is the only agreement left regulating the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals under which the duo is permitted to conduct inspection of each other’s nuclear sites. Reacting to the move, the United States President termed it a big mistake. While responding to it, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterrus asked Russia and the US to return to dialogue, calling the move far more dangerous and unstable. The very next day, foreign minister of China Wang Yi arrived in Moscow on his scheduled trip where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the meeting, a Chinese top diplomat said that China is ready to strengthen strategic partnership and in-depth cooperation with Russia. While, Putin said that the ties between Moscow and Beijing were reaching new frontiers and were important to stabilize the international situation. Hinting that, his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping would visit Russia soon. However, China maintains neutrality over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But,as reported by the BBC,China’s neutrality fades with Moscow visit. The United States had earlier said that China was considering giving lethal support to Russia, but the claim was quickly turned down by China. China will be a game changer if it provides military support to Russia. In addition, Alexey Muraviev, a professor of security and strategic studies at Perth’s Curtain University said, if Russia loses in Ukraine politically or militarily, China will be left alone as Russia is the only major power which supports it. Conversely, Russian victory will result in inflicting a strategic defeat on the US and that would second the president Xi Jinping’s narrative ‘the West is in decline’. Therefore, he believes, China may clandestinely supply weapons to Russia via state-controlled companies, North Korea or to the Wagner group. Moreover, Chinese weapon supply would lead to confrontation between China and Russia on the one side and Ukraine and the US-led NATO military alliance on the other and that might break out another World War. To recapitulate, the continued conflict in Ukraine has claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced millions and left millions of people without access to food, while disrupting the global supply of commodities and sharply increasing food and energy prices. Given such a crisis, the exchange of war of words and creation of blocs only pour fuel to the fire and result in further escalation of the conflict. Therefore, a peaceful solution in accordance with the UN Charter may be found to stop the regional conflict from escalating into World War, unlike World War I.
