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'War Between Nuclear-Armed Powers Is Not an Option': Calls for Diplomacy
Surge
"De-escalation and diplomacy are the only way to secure peace," said
British MP Jeremy Corbyn.
by Jake Johnson, staff writer

**The urgency of diplomatic** steps to avert a war in Eastern Europe
reached new heights Tuesday following Russian President Vladimir Putin's
move

to recognize two breakaway regions in Ukraine as independent and deploy
troops-described as "peacekeeping" forces-to the Donbas, heightening
fears of an all-out military conflict.

In a statement

late Monday, a spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General
António Guterres said that he is "greatly concerned by the decision by
the Russian Federation related to the status of certain areas of Donetsk
and Luhansk regions of Ukraine."

Guterres "calls for the peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern
Ukraine, in accordance with the Minsk Agreements, as endorsed by the
Security Council in Resolution 2202," said the spokesperson. "The
secretary-general urges all relevant actors to focus their efforts on
ensuring an immediate cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians
and civilian infrastructure, preventing any actions and statements that
may further escalate the dangerous situation in and around Ukraine, and
prioritizing diplomacy to address all issues peacefully."

The statement came as the U.S., the European Union, and the United
Kingdom prepared to respond to Putin's actions with a "barrage
" of
fresh economic sanctions targeting Russia itself as well as Donetsk and
Luhansk.

Shortly after Putin signed decrees formally recognizing the independence
of the two self-proclaimed people's republics in eastern Ukraine, U.S.
President Joe Biden signed

an executive order barring Americans from investing in the regions and
prohibiting "the importation into the United States, directly or
indirectly, of any goods, services, or technology from the so-called DNR
or LNR."

During a call with reporters Monday evening, a senior administration
official made clear that Biden's executive order and other policy moves
expected Tuesday "are not the swift and severe economic measures we have
been preparing in coordination with allies and partners should Russia
further invade Ukraine"-an indication that far more sweeping sanctions
could be on the horizon.

But analysts have cautioned

in recent days that economic warfare by the West likely won't bring the
burgeoning conflict with Russia to an end-and could have deleterious
economic and humanitarian impacts.

As such, progressive lawmakers, peace activists, and experts on the
region called on world leaders to prioritize diplomatic negotiations to
avoid a potentially catastrophic war.

"De-escalation and diplomacy are the only way to secure peace," British
MP Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour Party leader, said
late
Monday.

Anatol Lieven, a senior research fellow on Russia and Europe at the
Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote

Monday that "American condemnation of Russia's latest action should be
accompanied by continued efforts at compromise with Russia."

"War between nuclear-armed powers is not an option," Lieven wrote,
alluding to the fact that the U.S. and Russia together possess more than
90% of the world's nuclear weapons. "Russia's action has narrowed the
space for diplomacy to resolve this crisis, but not yet destroyed it. As
long as there is any hope of preventing a wider war, it is our duty to
pursue it."

Specifically, peace advocates have called on the U.S. to compromise on
its stated readiness to welcome Ukraine into NATO-a position that, as
he reiterated during a lengthy address Monday, Putin views as a major
security threat to Russia.

"Biden has said repeatedly that the U.S. is open to diplomacy with
Russia, but on the issue that Moscow has most emphasized-NATO
enlargement-there has been no American diplomacy at all," Jeffrey
Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia
University, wrote
in an
op-ed for the

**Financial Times** on Monday. "Putin has repeatedly demanded that the
U.S. forswear NATO's enlargement into Ukraine, while Biden has
repeatedly asserted that membership of the alliance is Ukraine's
choice."

"The U.S. should propose a guarantee that NATO will not enlarge to
include Ukraine in return for a full withdrawal of Russian forces from
the Donbas region and an end to Russian support for the independence of
the two Moscow-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, a
demobilization along the Russia-Ukraine border, and an assurance of
Ukrainian sovereignty," Sachs argued. "If the U.S. won't do this, then
France and Germany should step forward instead."

During an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday in the wake
of Putin's address, Rosemary DiCarlo-the U.N. under-secretary-general
for political and peacebuilding affairs-raised alarm over increased
shelling and ceasefire violations in the Donbas in recent days and
implored all parties to devote their full attention to achieving a
diplomatic resolution.

"The risk of major conflict is real and needs to be prevented at all
costs," said DiCarlo.
"Amid the current risks and uncertainty, it is even more important to
pursue dialogue."

With tensions dangerously high, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba
is set to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington
on Tuesday. Later this week, Blinken is scheduled to meet with Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva.

"Even during the most difficult moments... we say, 'We are ready for
negotiations,'" Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia's Foreign
Ministry, said

Tuesday. "We are always in favor of diplomacy."

______________________________________________________________________

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