Is Biden’s Strategy With Putin Working, or Goading Moscow to War?
The New York Times
The Biden administration’s goal is to cut the Russians off at each turn by exposing their plans. But Russian President Vladimir V. Putin says that approach could spark a conflict.
WASHINGTON — At key moments since the Ukraine crisis flared into the headlines two months ago, President Biden and his aides have worked to expose Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s plans, declassifying intelligence about his next steps and calling him out as an “aggressor.”
The administration has revealed information that could only have been obtained by penetrating, at least to some degree, Russia’s military and intelligence systems. The Pentagon declared publicly that the force Mr. Putin was assembling on three sides of Ukraine would reach 175,000 or more before an invasion began, a piece of data one cannot discern from looking at a satellite photograph.
A few weeks later, it said Moscow would try to stage a provocation — a “false flag attack” on its own forces or allies — to create a pretext to act. Then Washington encouraged the British to reveal a Russian plan to install a puppet government in Kyiv.
