Keep in Touch with Moscow

If it’s true that Washington and Moscow are discussing how to avoid nuclear escalation in Ukraine, that’s a good thing. Kyiv decides everything else on the strength of its own sovereignty.

The Russian administration may not say anything, and that is sort of good news for a change. If it is true that the U.S. president’s security adviser and important advisers to Vladimir Putin are saying that they want to avoid nuclear escalation in Ukraine and are talking about how they can do so, it may well help the cause if little public fuss is made about it.

To date, Russia has been the only one to escalate—verbally. And there is unfortunately no guarantee that the nuclear sanity of Russian leadership will remain intact in the event of further losses on the battlefield in besieged Ukraine.

Kyiv Decides

But precisely for that reason, it is right and proper to stay in contact with Moscow. When hearing everything that is being trumpeted into the world from President Putin’s circle, one gets an impression of what is perceived in the Kremlin as “reality.” Talks between the Americans and Russians about nuclear de-escalation are also in Ukraine’s interest.

The administration in Kyiv will, however — as the German federal government has, fortunately, recently emphasized once again — decide on the strength of its own sovereignty whether it makes sense to initiate general negotiations with Russia regarding the withdrawal of invading troops. Since Moscow is making no gestures in that direction, such talks would be pointless now.