White House Believes Putin Is Bluffing On His Warnings Against Providing Ukrainian Forces With More Advanced Arms And New Training

More arms, new training for Ukraine: U.S. gambles on Russia’s ‘empty threats’. © Sputnik/Via Reuters 

Olivier Knox and Caroline Anders, Washington Post: More arms, new training for Ukraine: U.S. gambles on Russia’s ‘empty threats’  

U.S. gambles on Russia’s ‘empty threats’ 

 In word and deed, President Biden’s administration is shrugging off fresh Russian warnings against providing Ukrainian forces with more advanced arms and new training, in what appears to be a calculated risk Moscow won’t escalate the war it expanded two months ago. 

It looks like quite a shift in Washington’s assessment of how far Russian President Vladimir Putin will go after his efforts to seize Kyiv in a lightning war fell short and his military has suffered high-profile losses unimaginable to Western analysts just weeks ago. 

Consider: On April 7, The Daily 202 detailed how top U.S. officials were giving conflicting information about whether and how Americans were playing any role in training Ukrainians to use weapons meant to kill Russians, worried about Moscow’s potential response. Officials cited concerns Putin could decide training areas even outside Ukraine would be legitimate targets.  

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WNU Editor: I have been a Putin watcher for over 20 years. Before the Ukraine war he has managed four wars (Chechnya I and II, Syria, and Georgia), and rebuilt Russia's economy from the economic disasters of the 1990s. During all of this time I learned one thing about Putin. He never bluffs. 

The White House is making a major strategic geopolitical mistake with this assessment that the Kremlin is issuing "empty threats". But considering how the war is now shifting in favor of Russian forces in the eastern part of Ukraine, the U.S. has decided to double down on their involvement in this war.