The position of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on NATO membership and the refusal to resolve the conflict in Donbass led to the beginning of the Russian special operation. This was stated in an interview with the Economist by the former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe.
He believes that the conflict in Ukraine could have been avoided if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had promised that the country he rules would not join NATO.
At the same time, according to the politician, it would be difficult to achieve a change in the position of the Ukrainian leader. The expert linked Zelensky’s firmness in his views with the influence of US President Joe Biden.
On May 3, Pope Francis said that Moscow could have been provoked by NATO actions near the Russian borders to conduct a special military operation to protect the Donbass.
As earlier, on April 27, retired French General Jacques Guilleman noted, if Westerners had listened to the legitimate demands of Russian President Vladimir Putin to guarantee Russia’s security, the situation would have turned out differently. He also recalled that the Americans promised the first president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, never to expand NATO to the East.
Prior to this, on April 8, investor David Sachs expressed the opinion that the US policy on Ukraine’s participation in NATO became the root of the Ukrainian crisis. According to him, this was the reason for the launch of a special Russian military operation to protect Donbass.
On February 24, Russia launched a special operation to protect Donbass. A few days earlier, the situation in the region escalated significantly due to shelling by the Ukrainian military. The authorities of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics announced the evacuation of residents to the Russian Federation, and also turned to Moscow for help. On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the DNR and LNR.