Is the world experiencing the configuration of a new cold war?

While the West fears a Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin appears to have already begun annexing the neighboring country. for now, his troops will not leave Belarus despite what the Belarusian Defense Minister communicated last Thursday, stating that no Russian troops would remain in the territory at the end of these exercises. Although the joint maneuvers ended this Saturday, the Belarusian government changed its mind hours later.

With Russian troops permanently in Belarus and NATO increasingly deploying to Poland and the Baltic states, which we are seeing is setting up a new cold war, according to Alberto Sicilia, a journalist and correspondent for the newspaper ‘Público’ in Kiev. For his part, the Ukrainian president says that he will not fall for Russian provocations, but at the same time asks that sanctions be imposed on Russia and a timetable for his country’s entry into NATO.

Is there a feeling in the street that there is a lack of forcefulness in the support of the West? Sicily confirms this, pointing out that in Kiev it is considered that the measures being taken by the bloc made up of the US and the Europeans are too timid to threaten the Russians. Precisely, these days a lot is remembered in the Ukrainian capital and its surroundings of an episode from 1994, when this country renounced its nuclear weapons in exchange for the international community guaranteeing its independence.

At that time, Ukraine was the second largest Soviet republic and Kiev the third largest city in the Soviet Union. Now, with a situation that is becoming more and more tense, there are not a few voices who believe that they were wrong to trust in that pact with the international community. Hours go by in this area severely affected by tension and by violations of the ceasefire, but from Europe there are those who still believe that war is avoidable.