Ukraine analyst: Trump-Putin honeymoon over with negative results in Donbas possible

2017/4/7 16:15:28

Analyst: “…we see significant risks that such military action will prompt Putin to intensify his support for Assad. He could also escalate the military aggression in Donbas, which won’t bode well for Ukraine's struggling economy.”

 


KYIV, Apr 7, 2017 (UBO) - The U.S. government launched a military attack on April 6 on a Syrian military airfield that was allegedly used to conduct poison gas attacks that killed at least 70 civilians, Concorde Capital informed clients today. The U.S. action, which involved 59 cruise missiles being fired, marked the first direct military offensive by the U.S. against the Assad government during the civil war that has raged for six years in Syria.

 

The same day, U.S Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said “steps are underway” to form an international coalition to engage in a military offensive to remove Assad. “Assad’s role in the future is uncertain clearly, and with the acts that he has taken it would seem that there would be no role from him to govern the Syrian people,” he said. Tillerson also called upon Russia to rethink its support for the Assad regime.”

 

This morning, Russian President Putin told a press conference that the U.S. airstrikes were an “illegal act of aggression” that violated international law. He warned of grave damage to relations between the two countries, which are already “in tatters.” Putin was aware of the airstrikes but they were not cleared with him, the dailymail.co.uk news site reported, citing the Russian ambassador to the UN.

 

Concorde analyst Zenon Zawada added: “The Trump-Putin honeymoon is over and any agreements to be reached in the future will involve a great deal of skepticism on both sides. The April 6 attack could mark a major shift in the foreign policy of U.S. President Trump, who could be abandoning his America First isolationism in favor of neo-conservative military intervention in the Middle East, as adopted by his predecessor, George W. Bush.

 

“However, it's still possible that Trump and Tillerson are using this attack as a means of boosting their negotiating position ahead of Tillerson's April 12 visit to Moscow. The results of that meeting will indicate whether Trump has fully embraced the neo-con foreign policy and abandoned any hopes to strike a deal with Putin on lifting sanctions beyond the Minsk Accords.

 

“Ukrainian state officials have already expressed their positive view of Trump challenging Putin. Yet we see significant risks that such military action will prompt Putin to intensify his support for Assad. He could also escalate the military aggression in Donbas, which won’t bode well for Ukraine's struggling economy.”

 

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