Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet made a political decision to hold the so-called " UA “Putin has problems with “referendums”: what plans of the Kremlin are frustrated by Ukraine” Vladimir Kravchenko.

“The reason is not only the state of affairs on the Russian-Ukrainian front. With a high degree of probability, we can assume that the master of the Kremlin will be determined on this issue, based on the presence of signals from the West about their readiness to make concessions to Russia,"

Thus, the holding of “referendums” will put a point of no return in Russia’s relations with the US and the EU – it will strengthen the positions of supporters of sanctions and weaken the positions of supporters of dialogue with Moscow and compromise at the expense of Ukraine.

“And they would like to avoid tougher sanctions in Moscow. But as soon as the Kremlin realizes that the fall bet has not worked, Putin will take a radical step,” Kravchenko points out..

Another point is that the “referendum” is an element of blackmail on the part of the Kremlin, forcing the West to make concessions to Russia, since Europe would also like to avoid the point of no return, which would be such a blatant violation of international law..

Also, the Kremlin believes that they can blackmail Kyiv with the issue of a “referendum”. The logic is that since Europe and Ukraine do not want the “vote” to take place, then Kyiv should make concessions and conclude a truce. Moscow, in turn, uses this time to reorganize defense and pull up reserves..

“According to sources ZN.

UA, Sergei Kiriyenko (First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, who personally oversees the organization of the “vote”) is an active supporter of holding “referendums” and, along with Turchak, is pushing Putin to make a radical decision. This position is caused not only by the fact that he and his team have invested a lot of effort in preparing the “referenda”, but also by the desire to demonstrate to the Russian establishment their toughness in resolving the “Ukrainian issue”, which should increase its chances of being on the short list of Putin’s successors,”.

Read more articles by Vladimir Kravchenko at the link.