“Equalizing battlefield chances”

US President Barack Obama announced the day before yesterday that the term of the sanctions imposed against Russia on March 6, 2014, in connection with the situation in Ukraine would be extended for a year.

On the same day, President Obama and EU states’ leaders agreed to impose new sanctions on Russia should the Minsk agreements not be observed in eastern Ukraine and the pro-Russian separatists launch an offensive.

General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in particular: “I think we should absolutely consider lethal aid, and it ought to be in the context of NATO allies because Putin’s ultimate objective is to fracture NATO.”

According to The Washington Post, this is the first time Gen. Dempsey publicly raised this question. “There are some capability gaps that put Ukrainian forces at a real disadvantage, and I think we ought to look for opportunities to provide those capabilities,” Dempsey said, so the two sides “can compete on a level playing field.” At the same time, he did not say what kind of capabilities the United States might provide.

In a comment to The Day, US experts in Washington said that the only opponent to arms supply in the Obama administration is National Security Advisor Susan Rice. According to Stephen Blank, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, Ukraine is not as important to her as is the Islamic State (IS) and proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction. “It is quite possible that the administration hopes to eventually resume negotiations with Russia about Iran and the IS. They are more afraid of Putin than Putin is of them,” the expert said.

He also criticized the administration’s fear that the supply of arms to Ukraine will provoke an escalation. “Putin is anyway escalating because the West offers no resistance. Putin is more afraid of a third world war, so tactic is to intimidate Europe. We must strengthen NATO, boost defense expenditures, map out an effective strategy of information warfare, and increase sanctions – only then we will win,” the expert emphasized.