Russia: Putin opponent reveals impact of Western sanctions
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This week Russia said it will “dramatically” reduce its military activities around Kviv and the northern city of Chernihiv. According to Russia’s Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin this is being done to “create the necessary conditions for future negotiations”. However the West believe the announcement may be a tactical exercise to buy time for troops to regroup.
The Pentagon confirmed “some movement of small numbers” of Russian forces away from Kyiv, but labelled it as a “repositioning ‒ not a withdrawal”.
An enormous convoy of Russian troops had been stationed around the Ukrainian capital for weeks but as of yet have been unable to make inroads into Kyiv.
Speaking on Tuesday, as the war entered its 34th day, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby added: “Russia has failed in its objective of capturing Kyiv. It has failed in its objective of subjugating Ukraine.”
Russia’s army has been plagued by equipment failure and strategic error since first invading Ukraine on February 24.
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However, in 2014 Putin boasted that Russian forces could conquer the Ukrainian capital in just two weeks.
The Russian President held a phone conversation with outgoing European Commision leader Jose Manuel Barroso, in which the pair discussed the Russian military presence in the Crimean peninsula.
According to La Repubblica, when Mr Barroso asked Putin about the Russian troops in Eastern Ukraine the Russian President replied: “The problem is not this, but that if I want I’ll take Kiev in two weeks.”
Moscow refused to deny that Putin had made the comments but said that the President’s remarks had been taken out of context.
The Kremlin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov added: “This is incorrect, and is outside all the normal framework of diplomatic practice, if he did say it.
“This is simply not appropriate for a serious political figure.”
On March 25 the Chief of the Russian General Staff Sergei Suskoi declared to the Russian people that “the first phase of the operation has been completed.”
The Kremlin claimed it would abandon it’s strategy of capturing Kyiv and redoply its forces in order to concentrate on taking the Donbas.
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It is believed that Putin’s initial plan had been to take Kyiv in a matter of days and install a Kremlin-friendly regime.
However, while half of Russian forces deployed around the capital had been fought to a standstill, the rest of the Russian army was making glacial progress in the south and east.
On Friday seven Russian Generals were said to have been killed, and another was sacked over the course of the invasion.
Western officials claimed that the latest to die was Lieutenant General Yakov Rezanstev,who was commander of Russia’s 49th Combined Arms Army.
In response to Russia’s pledge to scale back its military activity in Kyiv, US President Joe Biden said: “We’ll see. I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are.
“In the meantime, we’re going to continue to keep these strong sanctions.
“We’re going to continue to provide the Ukrainian military with their capacity to defend themselves.
“And we’re going to continue to keep a close eye on what’s going on.”
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said he took little stock in Russia’s announcement that it would scale back its attacks on Kyiv.
Mr Johnson said: “We must judge Putin’s regime by their actions not their words.
“Putin is twisting the knife in the open wound of Ukraine in an attempt to force the country and its allies to capitulate.”
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