It's up to Russia to prevent war in Ukraine, NATO chief says

NATO's secretary general says that while there's an urgent need for diplomacy to resolve the crisis in eastern Europe, it's up to Russia — not Ukraine — to show flexibility.

In an interview with CBC News airing today, Jens Stoltenberg was asked whether the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could — or should — be doing more under the existing Minsk agreements to pull Europe back from the brink of a new war.

Moscow has precipitated the current crisis, he said.

"The aggressor is Russia," Stoltenberg told CBC's chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton. "To expect that the victim of aggression should de-escalate is to really put the whole thing in a bit of [a] strange, upside-down way."

Stoltenberg said that while it's up to Russia "to de-escalate," NATO is still willing to sit down again and listen to Moscow's concerns.

A spokesperson for the Kremlin described as "unsuccessful" the round of security negotiations that took place this week involving the U.S., NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). 

Russia's ambassador to the OSCE, Alexander Lukashevich, warned of possible "catastrophic consequences" if the two sides can't agree on Russia's security red lines. He said that Moscow had not given up on diplomacy even though no new talks are scheduled.

Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway who negotiated border disputes with the Russians in the Far North, said he has faith a deal with Moscow is possible.

"I think the most important thing I learned was that there's no contradiction between ... defence, strength and dialogue. As long as we are strong, as long as we are united, we can engage in dialogue and discuss many issues with Russia," he said. "Dialogue, talks, negotiation is not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength."

With the help of the U.S., France and Germany, two peace accords have been brokered to end the fighting in eastern Ukraine. They are known as the Minsk agreements and they have created a climate of political stalemate.

Dominique Arel, a University of Ottawa professor and the school's chair of Ukrainian Studies, said the government in Kyiv has no room politically to give in to a Russian demand written into the Minsk agreements: political autonomy for the breakaway eastern Donbas region where Russian proxy forces have been fighting Ukrainian soldiers since 2014.

An attempt to change Ukraine's constitution under former president Petro Poroshenko ended in street violence, while suggestions of accommodation by the current Zelensky administration have been described as "treason," said Arel.

"Ukraine is unable to move, politically," he said. "Since there has been no movement, Russia's strategy has been to re-escalate."

It will be very difficult to find a pathway to peace without going through the Donbas. Arel said he wonders whether it's too late. Russia has "upped the demands so much that it is no longer about the Minsk accord," he said.