Cold War was never over: US uses Ukraine to punish Russia for Syria

Washington doesn’t care what really happens in Ukraine but uses it in its aggressive attack against Russia, trying to punish Moscow for Syria as the Cold War has never been over, political commentator Aleksandr Nekrassov told RT.

RT:This special status for Donetsk and Lugansk, East Ukraine, sounds a bit vague at the moment. What does it mean for these regions? Are they getting what they wanted?

Aleksandr Nekrassov: I think personally that this is just another stunt. Unfortunately, we have other examples of when things went badly wrong immediately after some sort of an agreement was reached. For example, the ceasefire. The ceasefire was arranged and it was considered to be a breakthrough, but what happened? The EU immediately set sanctions on Russia which make no sense. My feeling is that President Poroshenko and his lot in Kiev did this deal with the Rada (Ukrainian parliament) to show the EU that they are peacemakers. You know, they have just signed an Association Agreement - they needed to show that they are trying to find a peaceful solution.

Editor-in-chief of Geheim magazine Michael Opperskalski on special status for Donetsk and Lugansk: “Kiev authorities were forced to approve this law since they couldn’t crush the people’s defense units by military force and by brutal oppression. It is simply an acceptance of this status quo, but Ukraine is in a very violent situation, and today even the President is making a lot of promises and they are broken the next day.”

At the same time when this so-called status, which is very vague really, was given to Donetsk and Lugansk, we are watching the NATO maneuvers there in Ukraine. It doesn’t make sense; it just doesn’t show that people in Kiev are sensible. I have a bad feeling that Donetsk and Lugansk will be then accused - like they were accused of breaking the ceasefire even though the Ukrainian troops were doing it - they will be accused of not really abiding by the new regulations and laws. And we will probably see talk about more sanctions against Russia. That’s what my gut feeling tells me.

READ ALSO: Special status to E. Ukraine regions, amnesty to combatants - parliament

RT:Donetsk and Lugansk say they want equality with Kiev. Does it mean independence? Can they count on getting what they want?

AN: At the moment of course it’s impossible to talk about independence because of the situation. But if you look, it is like many of those things that have been happening before. If we go back very quickly to February, you would see that the people who came to power eventually during the coup were saying one thing and then they did another thing completely. They always change their minds, they always play those games and they always think that they can outwit, not just the public opinion in their own country but Russia, and the world opinion. That is why you can’t really trust these people: you always have to look at what can happen along the way, what they can do otherwise.

Don’t forget that America is bent on punishing Russia for Syria. America is now basically attacking Russia. I don’t really understand this talk about “we are entering a Cold War”…We are already in a Cold War! We have never been out of the Cold War. If the Cold War had been over, there would have been no NATO, NATO would have been disbanded. NATO and Cold War came together. In this respect, it’s time to realize that this is a very aggressive attack by America against Russia. Ukraine is just being used, to be honest, as nobody in Washington cares what really happens in Ukraine. That’s why any move like that from Kiev - we have to look back and see what the real plan is and who is deciding what is going to happen in Washington and in Brussels.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.