Russia-Ukraine war: what is proxy war and why is Moscow accusing NATO of conducting it

It was after a new allegation last week that NATO was supplying weapons to Ukraine that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the military alliance of “fighting Russia. through your proxy and arm that proxy“.

The Kremlin has insisted that the delivery of heavy weapons to kyiv by European countries threatens security on the continent. Russia has warned of that will consider the “legitimate purposes” of its Armed Forces Weapons provided by the West to Ukraine.

Lavrov’s use of the word “proxy” refers to a claim that Moscow has almost leveled up against the West since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine: that NATO is not directly fighting Russiathat is, the use of kyiv as a kind of intermediary or “proxy”.

“A proxy war occurs when one state fights another state, but instead uses its own military force using the forces of othersthat could be another state, a militia or warlords, ”Daniel Byman, professor of foreign policy at Georgetown University, told the BBC.

Proxy wars are not a new invention. In fact, they are an intrinsic part of the Cold Warwhere the United States and the Soviet Union faced each other hidden behind the military forces of other countries, and each power sought to gain an advantage in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Russian officials are not the only ones saying the US and NATO are conducting a proxy war on Ukraine. Among them, Leon Panetta himself, former U.S. Secretary of Defense and head of Barack Obama’s CIA, acknowledged this.

“This is a proxy war with Russiawhether we say so or not, ”Panetta told the Bloomberg agency in mid -March.

In a recent BBC interview, Panetta explained this concept, stating that the US and the West’s emphasis on imposing sanctions on Russia and providing weapons to Ukraine is evidence of their intentions.

“To the extent that the United States and our allies are doing everything they can to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, you can say that this is equivalent to proxy war“, he claims.

After the aggression began, the US Congress approved a $ 3.5 billion support package for Ukraine. Last week, Biden again called for a new injection of funds for kyiv, at this time of 33,000 million dollars. NATO Secretary General Jen Stoltenberg said the alliance has already provided more than $ 8 billion in military aid.

After an initial reluctance to refer to its involvement in the conflict, the Pentagon began to speak out openly. how is the training of ukrainian troopss, even in Germany, to use the weapons they receive.

Instead of saying, as it did in February, that it just wants to help Ukraine survive, Washington now says its goal is to weaken Russia in the long run.

“We want to see Russia weaken to the point that he can’t do the kinds of things he did by invading Ukraine, ”U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after visiting kyiv last week.

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Washington’s official rhetoric on the issue is negative. Asked about it last week, Joe Biden denied that the United States or NATO was conducting a proxy war on Ukraine.

Biden blamed the Russian authorities for raising such speculation, saying it “shows the desperation Russia feels for its failure” in the invasion of Ukraine.

“Instead of saying that the Ukrainians, equipped with some ability to fight Russian forces, are doing it, they need to tell their people that the United States and all of NATO are committed,” the US president said. .

Byman, Georgetown University’s foreign policy professor, thought Lavrov’s accusations were an attempt by Russia to impose its own narrative and position on Moscow as the real victimbecause of their difficulty in imposing their will on Ukraine.

“Russia started this war and NATO is just helping Ukraine to defend itself. So NATO doesn’t mean to fight Moscow. Honestly, It was a war started by Russia“, he told the BBC.

Paradoxically, experts point out that a clear example of proxy war is the campaign conducted by Russia in Ukraine in recent years, where Moscow has supported pro-Russian forces in the southwest of the country against the central government in kyiv.

With information from the EFE and AP agency