The visit of US Defense Secretary James Mattis to Kiev, his participation in the military parade on the Independence Day of Ukraine pursues a practical and demonstrative goal.
This opinion was expressed to the "Observer" by the Russian lawyer Mark Feigin.
According to him, "this is a very significant signal," primarily in the context of the issue of granting Ukraine lethal defensive weapons. "It is clear that the arrival of such a person - General Mattis - in Kiev, and even for the celebration of Independence Day, and even the military parade, of course, will be accompanied by negotiations all the same - on the provision of lethal weapons of the Ukrainian army. Of course, this will be discussed in detail. So the visit has, on the one hand, practical, on the other - the demonstrative goal of ".
In this context, the lawyer recalled that "on the Capitol Hill there are different positions on this matter. For example, the Obama administration was of the opinion that Ukraine should not be given serious weapons, because Ukrainians will all sell because of corruption. The new administration, in the person of the republican conservatives, first of all McCain, takes a different view - that it is necessary to give these weapons, because they will have, first of all, a defensive function. It is not about strengthening the army for a trip to Rostov or Voronezh. It is about reducing the losses in the Donbass from the APU ".
As Feigin is convinced, "Moscow itself provoked this fever by signing the Minsk agreements, then completely ignoring them, this game in the Donbass. The longer it rests on the issue of the Minsk process, the faster it will lead to the fact that the patience of Americans is simply exhausted, and they will transfer these weapons to Ukraine ".
The lawyer is convinced that the arrival of James Mattis and the US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volcker, who will arrive in Kiev two days after the talks with Russian President's aide Vladislav Surkov, is in Kiev: "This is a demonstration to Moscow that everyone is very serious and nobody is joking".
In this context, he admitted that on August 21 in Minsk Surkov would hear from Volker's mouth the following message for the Kremlin: "Guys, let's execute the Minsk agreements, and everything will be more or less even. We can hold back the issue of providing lethal weapons to Ukraine, but if you do not concede, you just do not give us a chance ".
"This has a very important political and contextual significance," said Feigin.
"What kind of tank throw to Kiev can we talk about?" What fears of the West-2017 exercise can cause if very serious defensive weapons are delivered to Ukraine? "He said..
As it was written earlier, the ambassador of Ukraine to the USA Valery Chaly told that the head of the US Department of Defense, James Mattis, will pay an official visit to Ukraine on August 23-24..