About-Face? Putin Surprises With Softened Stance on Ukraine EU Bid

Putin watchers, take note: Like Darth Vader, the Russian strongman is reliably testy but not incapable of pulling the occasional rabbit out of his shapka. Speaking at a St. Petersburg economic forum, Vladimir Putin said that should Ukraine be granted candidate status for membership in the European Union, it would not be a concern for Russia because “the EU is not a military organization.”There was more. During his 73-minute speech, which started two hours late Friday — alleged Ukrainian cyber attacks were blamed — Mr. Putin struck an almost compliant tone with respect to the budding romance between Brussels and Kyiv: “We have nothing against it,” he said. “It’s their sovereign decision to join economic unions or not…. It’s their business, the business of the Ukrainian people. As far as their economic integration is concerned, it is their choice.”The Russian leader’s remark about the EU not being a military bloc was of course a thinly veiled reference to the NATO military alliance, which the Kremlin has shown itself to be constitutionally incapable of viewing in anything other than adversarial terms. Mr. Putin’s belief that Ukraine had been moving closer to NATO factored into his decision to launch an invasion of the country in February, though there were other dimensions to the pretext such as Kyiv’s Western leanings in general. The prospect of Ukraine joining the EU, however remote it seemed in the past, fueled the Kremlin’s belligerence.From the Russian perspective, getting Ukraine’s president, Volodymr Zelensky, to forswear the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO or the EU has been a sticking point in ceasefire negotiations. It is likely that when that time comes — with some sources pointing to August — Kyiv could agree to security guarantees that fall outside the aegis of NATO. Mr. Putin’s apparent softening of stance with respect to EU membership in effect creates firmer, if still fragile, ground from which Kyiv could eventually negotiate peace terms.What prompted Mr. Putin’s somewhat off-topic comments at the obscure and according to reports thinly attended international economic forum at St. Petersburg was likely the recommendation the European Commission gave on Friday to confer upon Ukraine official candidate status for the bloc. The European Council is set to decide on Ukraine’s application on June 23, and the German chancellor said that EU leaders will attempt to garner the 27 “yes” votes to make Ukraine’s candidate status official. The French president has also said he believes that EU candidate status will come to Ukraine next week. Mr. Putin has by no means turned over a new leaf, however. According to the Moscow Times, he also slammed the West’s “economic blitzkrieg” and vowed that Russia would withstand sanctions levied over its invasion of Ukraine: “Like our ancestors, we will solve any problem; the entire thousand-year history of our country speaks of this,” he said. He also lambasted Washington and the EU for, in his view, bringing the world to the brink of a global food shortage — even though it is the Russian navy that is blockading the crucial Ukrainian seaports — in order to “destabilize” Russia. “Famine in the poorest countries will be on the conscience of the U.S. administration and the Eurocrats,” Mr. Putin said.What major ports in Ukraine are not currently blocked by Moscow’s battleships are still under Russia’s control. Nearly a third of the world’s grain supply comes from Russia and Ukraine, and supply and logistics issues caused by the Russian invasion are already driving up prices and threatening food security in many countries.

About-Face? Putin Surprises With Softened Stance on Ukraine EU Bid

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