Thread by @akoz33

The final part of Illarionov's article is entitled "What Biden's phone call revealed about his attitude to Ukraine". I decided it would be better to make it into a separate thread, as it is essentially self-contained.

Not Biden's call (and the follow-up) clearly clearly showed what he was going to do and what he was not going to do. A lot of additional information has emerged showing how Biden actually relates to Ukraine.

First, the Washington-based "Politico" , which seems to have monopolized the channels of intentional leaks from the White House, has reminded us not for the first time that Biden had been keeping Ukraine at arm's length. ...

It also did not fail to announce that it was Ukrainian officials who had been pushing for a call between Zelensky and Biden for weeks for weeks. In other words, Biden through Politico says: I didn't really want to do it, but Ukrainian officials are pressing me.

Secondly, according to a statement of the head of the office of the Ukrainian president, A. Yermak, the conversation between the two presidents lasted 50 minutes. As soon as the news broke, the Biden administration leaked that the conversation was 30-40 minutes long.

Regardless of who is closer to the truth, the improbability of the very fact of public dispute on this topic is striking, if only because the telephone conversations of the leaders of states are recorded to a second.

Thirdly, if the American side is right in this matter, then it puts the Ukrainian administration in an ugly position: it was trying to mislead public opinion.

If the Ukrainian side is right, then this means that the American administration is trying to humiliate the Ukrainians by reporting a shorter conversation.

Fourth, the first commentator on the conversation between the two presidents from the Ukrainian side was Andriy Yermak, apparently not only personally present during this conversation, but also receiving the exclusive right to comment on it.

The significance of this fact is determined, of course, not by the fantastic explanations proposed by the PAP, according to which Biden could not discuss issues of military assistance while FSB agent Kozyr was listening.

As it turned out, not only he could, but actually did. Moreover, there were at least two conversations. Initially, US Assistant for National Security J. Sullivan spoke to the "FSB agent", and then Biden and Zelensky spoke in the presence of the "FSB agent".

Whether Yermak is an "FSB agent" or not, this will sooner or later become clear. But the significance of conversations with Yermak and in the presence of Yermak is different.

Serious questions about Yermak regarding his political position and actions have been voiced since at least July 12, 2019. The White House could not fail to know this. If the suspicions regularly voiced over the past two years were known to the Biden administration,

then doesn't it look like “killing two birds with one stone,” that is, delivering sensitive information about the security of Ukraine not only to Kiev, but immediately to Moscow as well?

Fifth, NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov has recently become the central figure in building a more or less rational Ukrainian defense and security policy.

In this capacity, he is a partner of US National Security Adviser Sullivan and one of Zelenskiy's key aides on the main topic of his telephone conversation with Biden. However, Danilov did not seem to be present during this conversation.

And on the eve of it, Sullivan did not call Danilov, but Yermak. It turns out that the Biden administration does not communicate with those persons in the Ukrainian leadership who are really involved in the country's defense and security, but prefers to talk with ... others.

It should also be noted that if Sullivan has never spoken with the Secretary of the Security Council of Ukraine Danilov, he has done it at least twice already with the Secretary of the Security Council of Russia Patrushev.

By the way, Patrushev shared his thoughts on new areas of cooperation offered by the Biden administration to the Kremlin. Be that as it may, the Biden administration's selection of negotiating partners is noteworthy.

Finally, sixth, the day after Biden's conversation with Zelensky, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office I. Zhovkva revealed the most terrible secret - the conversation between the presidents was interrupted by Biden:

“The leaders did not have time to discuss all topics. For example, there was not enough time to discuss issues of economic interaction, but these issues will be discussed in the framework of further contacts.

After all, President Biden has assured that this conversation is definitely not the last. " What is the explanation of the fact that the leaders did not manage to discuss all the topics? One thing is clear - Zelensky wanted to discuss them, but Biden did not.

And if Biden refused to talk with Zelensky on important issues even at the moment of a real crisis for Ukraine, then what is the price of Ukraine's “unshakable support” proclaimed in Biden’s statement?

Against the background of all that has been said, an attentive reader himself will be able to assess the quality of those predictions that he has heard a lot in recent days:

The United States gave the Kremlin a "cold shower" ... Washington will start an all-out economic war against Russia in the event of an attempt to attack in Ukraine. ... the US Secretary of Defense addressed Ukraine as a NATO ally. This was a clear signal to Russia ...

Life will show what happens to SWIFT. Perhaps nothing.
In the meantime, Zelensky was disconnected from the telephone connection. On the same day.
And in 50 minutes.
And, possibly, in 30-40.

Everything that the dear reader got acquainted with above is well understood both in the Russian General Staff and in the Kremlin.
And the dear reader can himself conclude what conclusions they made from this.

In the near future, Putin will not be in a hurry - he will certainly respect Biden by his participation in the senseless orgy of green totalitarianism - at that dear climate summit on April 22-23.

Patrushev will discuss with Sullivan new areas of cooperation - from Iran to space.

And Russian tanks and other military equipment will continue to crawl towards the Ukrainian borders.
Until day X comes - the date of completion of the construction of "Nord Stream - 2" and putting it into operation.

And then the fateful decisions will be made not on the basis of empty statements glued together based on the results of interrupted conversations lobbied for weeks by persons who are kept at arm's length, but on the basis of

whether Ukraine's armed forces will be able to resist the aggressor on the battlefield in terms of quantity and quality.

One of the most attentive observers of international security issues, James Sherr, in his elegant column "Confrontation Etiquette" could not help but make a depressingly accurate assessment-forecast:

The ABC interview, instead of the promised tough response to interference in the US presidential election, was followed by Biden's invitation to Putin to take part in a virtual summit on climate change.

For Putin, who rates opponents on a strength-weakness scale, this behavior is a sign of indecision. An insult that is not backed up by action is an invitation to aggression for the Russian elite.

P.S.
When the text above was posted, Bloomberg came up with a pieceabout the "hellish measures" that the Biden administration is going to take with regard to Russia:

Possible steps could include sanctions and the expulsion of Russian intelligence officers to the United States under diplomatic cover. Biden and his closest aides will now have to weigh how harshly they will punish Russia while simultaneously turning to Russia for help on

priorities such as joining a nuclear deal with Iran, resuming arms control negotiations and fighting climate change.

In addition to sanctions against specific individuals, the expulsion of diplomats is also possible, as well as private negotiations with Russia, in which [the Russian interlocutors] will outline the next steps that the US will be prepared to take.