While Vladimir Putin’s military creeps towards the Ukrainian border, talks are still the best way of finding out what he may accept
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, is the latest western leader to arrive in Moscow – and he may be the last before Russian troops cross into Ukrainian territory. Mr Scholz’s immediate task on Tuesday will be to make clear the high price that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will pay if he decides to turn a war of nerves into a war. Given that Germany has been seen as being a European power with the closest economic ties with Russia – notably via the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline – his words ought to carry some weight in the Kremlin.
Mr Putin may not care, but he should. The US’s megaphone diplomacy has seen Washington present a public case for a real and present danger – even naming the date of a possible Russian offensive this week – that narrowed the gap between western allies on the level of Russian sanctions which could successfully deter an invasion. Russia’s hybrid war strategy is based on sowing confusion and disinformation. The US, by revealing intelligence in real time, has put Russia on the defensive, preventing it from using such tactics to shroud its moves.
