Russian Envoy Explains Ukraine Military Operation

Russian Ambassador Marat Pavlov explained that Russia's special military operation in Ukraine arose from a projected “large-scale offensive operation in the Donbas area" set in March this year even as he bared that a ceasefire is possible.

Photo Insert: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of the Philippines H.E. Pavlov Marat Ignatievich

Pavlov's explanation was made during an Ambassador's Forum organized by Philippine think tank IDSI on Monday where the roots of the conflict in Ukraine and other areas were discussed. Other panelists in the said forum were UP Professor Bobby Tuazon and Wharton-trained IDSI economist George Siy.

According to Tuazon, one reason for the conflict was the eastward expansion of NATO and the US where thousands of troops have been deployed by many of the 30-member countries of NATO in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria.

The UP prof also said in the forum that even the CIA director of US President Joe Biden today, William Burns -- then a political officer in the US Embassy in Moscow, cited that NATO's expansion is a policy error and will trigger possible retaliation from Russia.

This eastward expansion had been cited also by Russian president Vladimir Putin who considered it a threat ten years ago, Tuazon said, adding that the negotiation for peace is somehow being scuttled when NATO "would suddenly deliver armed shipments to Ukraine, including the military aid sent by Biden worth 800 million US dollars.

Tuazon said that the war may linger till April or May but he sees a breakthrough and puts an end to the war.

Pavlov said that among the conditions laid down for peace is the creation of a neutral and nuclear-free status for Ukraine and recognition of Russia's sovereignty over Crimea and the sovereignty of Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republic, two areas that want to break free from Ukraine.

During the forum, Siy said that there are many dimensions that the Philippines can learn from in the current Ukraine conflict. "The world today is a globalized one and the information and the way security is architectured shows that it is not divisible or disjointed.

"The OSCE had enshrined in its own principles that you cannot enhance the security of one nation at the expense of another. What will happen is you will have a situation that is unstable. This is what is happening now," the Wharton-trained Siy said.

Siy also said that the current conflict should be taken within the context that despite NATO's promise, they have actually increased by 13 countries since the liberation of East Europe.

That expansion has reached the "doorstep of Russia" Siy said, a fact that is not being played out in the continuing narrative of Western media on the Ukraine conflict.

He also cited that the Philippines can learn from the situation plus the fact that somehow "promises don't matter" citing that the point of the West that there were no promises made to Russia but to then Soviet Union nor by the US and not NATO are simply incredulous with "all kinds of documentation in Germany, France, Italy the US and UN" that point otherwise.

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