This article amplifies the intentional western false information. The US is using a false interpretation of the Russian actions in Ukraine to boost NATO spending for more extensive weapons and training of soldiers - to be fit to fight the US proxy wars. No, the US will not fight a war against Russia over Ukraine - the EU will be pushed by the US into doing so, starting with sanctions for actions committed not by Russia, but by the US/EU and Kiev.

Kiev started the war on the rebels in Donbas. Kiev lost the war and with it Donbas and in time other regions may follow.

Putin doesn't have more to lose than the EU with sanctions: he will countersanction, as Medvedev made clear, by closing the airspace over Siberia for western flights, which risks to sink several EU commercial airline companies. The EU is of course fully aware that sanctions on Russia are ridiculous and unwarranted and acted to please the US, which it fears will otherwise destabilize the EU economy as well.

The war on Donbas was orchestrated by the US via State Department and CIA advisors. The EU/US are responsible for instigating the coup and the shooting in Maidan to force Yanukovich to flee. The problem with the rebels could easily have been resolved with dialogue from the start. Calling his own people terrorists does not justify Kiev sending the military to shoot down its own civilians. That is and remains genocide. This doesn't turn around Russia, it turns around NATO: the US refuses federalization of Ukraine or special autonomy in Donbas, because it would preclude Ukraine from joining NATO and therewith the US from encircling Russia with NATO. Joining crimea to Russia is a purely defense move from the part of Russia to maintain its defensed along the western and southwestern borders. It has nothing to do with invasion of Ukraine. Nor does it mean that Putin wants to restore the old Soviet Union. These are all western inventions to hide the US intervention in Ukraine and its strategy against Russia and China.

Time for people to go inform themselves about the facts. Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk make millions from submitting to the US strategy. They are quite literally selling Ukraine to the US for their own buck.

Unless NATO or the US creates a situation in the Baltics, there is no cause for Russia to invade. The motive for the Russian moves is national security, not expansionism or imperialism.

Putin is worthy of respect. Obama? Worthy of nothing?

We must never forget that Russia started WWII along with its 1939 good friend at the time...Nazi Germany. See "The Soviet Story"
http://www.sovietstory.com/...

Eh ?? Nazi Germany invaded Russia without warning in 1941.

Hmmm and I thought Hitler started the war and was given authorization by Neville Chamberlain.

http://buchanan.org/blog/di...

"Hmmm and I thought Hitler started the war"

He did with a little help from Brown Brothers Harriman of New York and Prescott Bush.

Yes and even more help from Chamberlain and weak leaders of that time, similar to the weak leaders we have today. I do question the Soviets starting WW2 though which is the original comment in this line.

Putin must be pissing himself laughing at the West.

Just a heads up to the "Russia has invaded Ukraine" brigade, get yourself a book on modern day invasion strategy for dummy's

First the invading country sends in it's air-force to take out radar and air-defences,
then troops with tank and artillery cover.

You do NOT send troops in first,

Sure you do... when your opponent doesn't have an air defense, you don't need to send in your planes, especially when you want to pretend to deny that you are invading.

Putin is a ruthless dictator that plans on building another Russian empire. He is in the process of doing it as you read this and there is nothing the EU can do or America.. The EU will freeze this winter without Russian fuel, and the EU is hurting because there farmers cant sell there goods to Russia. America wont do anything because we won't start a war with Russia over Ukraine. Russia is a nuclear nation. Obama is afraid to make a move over anything as he is afraid to offend someone.and hurt his legecy which in my opinion is not good anyway.

I see that you're a glass half full type of person.

Obama is to stupid to do it and who's to say that if you are bigger and stronger than someone else you can have what they we did itso why cant others. I get your point

It's somewhat interesting that this web site, The Telegraph, chooses to allow comments to articles such as this which feature Putin but do not allow comments on articles such as "Barack Obama has time to see White House chef marry". I wonder why . . . . . .

NATO begging for more taxpayer money and using the boogeyman excuse.

I think it's about time that the Ukraine put together a guerilla counter insurgency. The further Putin goes in, the more bleeding he has to do to hold it. One thing Russia cannot afford is a prolonged body count. His demographics cant "absorb" that, nor will the Russian population. It's his weakest point.

most Russian kids forget to show up for draft..see..the young kids are not supporting Putin..the old farts reminiscing of the the great USSR do..they have a very short memory of the evil empire...

Russia has no draft nor conscription. It has a professional army. The people who fought in Donbas were volunteers - i.e. people who are no longer in the army, but who have relatives in the Donbas and went to their help.

Stop believing the endless false western propaganda.

You think the EU or US can endure a body count?

Here comes another invisible red line

Not.

More western media hobgoblinisms. Putin is merely protecting Russia's territorial integrity - he could no more allow Ukraine to become a vassal western state (joining NATO) then JFK could've permitted Russian missiles in Cuba.

The west created this conflict by installing a stooge govt- after toppling a democratically elected leader. Almost everything written about the Ukraine conflict in western media is patently false and foolishly misleading. This is about protecting the Petrodollar and Western control- and the Russians / Chinese and a growing list of other countries are getting tired of Washington hegemony.

Another red line crossed with no consequences. At least Putin didn't put the cart before the horse....he actually has a strategy

yes...he has...push till someone smacks you in the face...

This is the consequence of nannyism with regard to defense. We've taken care of their defense needs all these decades when they ALL should have been taking care of their own defense needs and not relying on one nation to provide it for them. I call that socialist defense. These nations have been able to spend billions on their social welfare programs all these decades at our expense whereas if they truly had to spend on the defense of their respective nations and not relied on the US for protection their level of spending on these socialist programs they openly embrace at our expense would have caused them all to go bankrupt decades ago from all the spending. Who better to have a vested interest in Polish defense than the Poles themselves as an example rather than relying on the US for their defense needs. Lesson learned? Rely on yourselves for defense not someone else.

ya...arm all nations with nukes...

If that is what it takes then so be it. Nannyism is out, we're broke. Like the Saudis. We sold them all this hardware for defense and what blood have they shed? Or the Jordanians, Egyptians and so on. Le them bleed to get rid of undesirables. Why must we "infidels" do it for them?

So what that he has absorbed our "consequences". What about Barack's red lines? To be sure that can not be working out well for him. Right? RIGHT? geez… give credit where it is due.

"Biden, get in there and start drawing red lines on that dry-erase board. We're gonna need LOTS of them. Take that b__tch Pelosi with you and tell her I said help. I'll be in there to check on you two as soon as I finish this round." ~~BARACK~~

LOL

(think of this "LOL" selfie as a written laugh-track) :)

Just wait a minute. This Ukraine deal has been in the works for years (2011)A deal worked out between Putin and Obama. Does anyone recall the meeting of Obama and Russian rep? Obama saying in essence 'give me more time-I'll have more flexibility after the election.' No one at the time knew what the two were eluding to. I guess Crimea was the subject matter. Good work media for the follow up.

"...the United States
and the major European military powers "mean what we say" when it
comes to honouring Nato's mutual defence pact."

Didn't the West have an agreement with Ukraine that it's borders would be defended in exchange for Ukraine's surrender of nukes?

there is no agreement on "protection"

That deal died when the putsch gang drove the democratically elected government out of Kiev.

All promises have been taken off the board since the left elected the great liar and promise breaker.

Ukraine isn't worth fighting for. Their govt was installed via a coup and a lot of the country doesn't want to live under that govt. The new govt has banned their party, outlawed their language and labelled opposition as "terrorists" which they are shelling with artillery. And this is all over an economic treaty.

This is a civil war which the West helped create. And we now realize that it is more important to Russia than it is to the West.

but we had to invade that ..powerhouse Afghanistan...in middle of nowhere...now that one was called for.

well "hun555", we did not ask for that fight. On 9/11, nineteen terrorists hijackd four airplanes and used them to murder nearly 3,000 people. THey struck at our military and economic nerve centers. They took the lives of innocent men, women, and children without regard to their faith or race or station in life. After the Taliban refused to turn over Osama bin Laden, we sent our troops into Afghanistan. Make sense to you now?

no it does not...we should have invaded Saudi Arabia...but it is a long story if I had to explain..

His repsonse males perfect sense, what does not make sense is that we go in and do not finish the job and then start to negoatiate with the Taliban.
As for who should have been invaded, other then Afghanistan, try Iran. Iran is a driving force behind much of the terrorism in the world. But the US under Clinton had Arafat in the White House for tea and Obama negotiating with and praising the Muslim Brotherhood.

Left winger, are you?

yes...that is when my tailor ask...but you would not know that...in Wal-Mart they do not ask..

Oh, anyone would know you are a lefty by the k -u- m spot showing through the A $ $ of your pants, believe me. You see, the comment I put up above in reply to your stupid question about Afghanistan was a direct quote from your messiah, Barack Obama. That was HIS reply, practically verbatim, (look it up) when another peanut brain asked the same question as you. So now you know. You can write him for further details, wing nut.

oh, can't use a vulgar word… sorry. Good to know.

Good point. Wonder why Barack doesn't just stand up and say that?

I have no idea. He speaks loudly and carries a small stick. I'd prefer he speak more like Rand Paul. If our country isn't going to do anything to oppose other countries, we should stop pretending like we will as it only destroys are credibility.

I'd imagine the West will think twice before backing the overthrow of a democratically elected govt for economic purposes.

Putin's plans end where ethnic Russian majorities end. It is as simple as that and is the reality now recognized by the USA and communicated to both Berlin and Kiev.

Any speculation of Russian invasion or empire building beyond its demos is just that - irrelevant vapour.

But here is the rub - Putin is a direct threat to the EU's vision of a Europe without nations. For all his faults the one critical thing that Putin has done is to remind Europe and the world that nations will not ultimately sacrifice themselves on the altar of international socialism. For this reason alone Putin is hated by the elites in Berlin, Brussels, 10 Downing Street and much of Washington DC.

Jonathan

Plenty of ethnic Russians in the Baltic States Dr. Jon. Let's see if Putin has a go at them, all members of NATO.
Can't understand why all those ex-Warsaw Pact countries all rushed to join NATO instead of staying in the warm embrace of Mother Russia.

I am assuming your last sentence was snark, These countries were brutalized and subjugated under the USSR. They have very good reasons why they have absolutely no desire to be associated with Russia in any way.

You assume correctly O Noble One, but to read some of the postings on this subject it is NATO that is brutalising and subjugating.