– Russia has taken the invasion of Ukraine to a “new phase” and President Vladimir Putin now considers it a war against NATO and the West.
The high-ranking EU official Stefano Sannino has stated that. He is secretary general of the EU’s European External Action Service (EEAS).
– Surprised by hospital attack
The statement came at a press conference in Tokyo recently, where Sannino pointed to, among other things, the latest arms deliveries to Ukraine from, among others, the USA, Canada and Germany.
– I think this latest development in terms of weapons supplies is just a development of the situation and the way Russia has begun to move the war into a new phase, Sannino said, referring to Russia’s indiscriminate attacks on civilians, writes Independent.
Two purposes
However, retired lieutenant general Arne Bård Dalhaug disagrees.
Hard against Zelenskyj
– I don’t think he (Putin, journ.am.) is considering a war against the West at all, says Dalhaug to Dagbladet.
He believes this is nothing new from Russia’s leader, but on the other hand it is quite typical of the rhetoric Putin uses when the war is going badly for Russia. And that Putin will then have a greater need to clarify that it is Nato and the West that he is fighting against.
Dalhaug points to two purposes for why Putin pursues the strategy he does:
– One is to mitigate the cause of the major defeats – it becomes easier to explain the major setbacks. The second is an attempt to hopefully, seen from his eyes, rally public opinion in Russia. This is an expected development in his rhetoric.
Calling Norway “satanic”: – Scary
He emphasizes that the actual conditions have not changed, and says that Putin himself is aware that Russia would have immediately lost the war in Ukraine if Nato and the West were involved to a greater extent.
– Apology for defeat
Earlier this week it became known that Germany will deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. So does Canada. A short time later, the USA announced a shipment of 31 Abrams tanks to the country, before Norway also decided to donate Leopard 2A4 tanks.
On Thursday, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the decision to send tanks is a direct interference in the conflict.
Dalhaug believes that it is hardly a coincidence that Russia leads such rhetoric, so soon after the announcement of new contributions from the West.
Rage against the “demonisation” of the Wagner group
– What Putin hopes for is to give his story greater credibility. This is just a reinforcement of a rhetoric that has been going on for a long time. The strategy of dividing the West failed spectacularly. The tank deliveries are another example of that, says Dalhaug.
– What does Putin want to achieve with his statements? Does he hope it can influence the West’s election?
– I don’t think he has any hope that it will affect the West’s deliveries, but more of an excuse for future defeats that he fears. And of course an opportunity to perhaps increase the population’s support for the war.
