The stakes were high when Presidents Joseph Biden of the United States and Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation held a two-hour, bilateral video-conference on December 7 (see EDM, December 8). Prior to the virtual summit, pro-Kremlin commentaries in Moscow warned of Russia and the West (i.e., the North Atlantic Treaty Organization—NATO) descending into deeper crisis, reacting to perceived threats and military actions by the other side with actions of their own, and heading in the direction of a possible regional war that could uncontrollably escalate into an all-European conflict—somewhat similar to the situation in 1914 that led to the outbreak of World War I (Izvestia, November 24).
Is a Russo-US De-Escalation Feasible? (Pavel Felgenhauer, The Jamestown Foundation)
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