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8 May, 2014 12:12

‘Main point of Putin's proposal is to avoid a new confrontation over Ukraine'

There is support in Europe and Russia to avoid further confrontation over Ukraine, and the Russian president's road map for the Ukrainian crisis has the same goal, Lawrence Freeman from Executive Intelligence Review Magazine told RT.

RT:The Russian President Putin asked the south-eastern regions of Ukraine to postpone the planned autonomy referendum which would take place on May 11. If the autonomy vote does get delayed, is that a sign of a potential diplomatic way forward to resolve the conflict?

Lawrence Freeman: I think President Putin is actually strategically handling the situation quite well because he knows that there are people who would like to see this conflict escalate into a major war. So he is outmaneuvering the people behind this, people around the British Empire crowd and financial crowd, and he is doing a good job of it. So this proposal by him is a way of a game avoiding a new confrontation with people that would like to have it with Russia.

RT:The US State Department still doesn't think Russia is doing enough. What else do they expect Moscow to do?

LF: You have to keep in mind that the State Department and particularly Victoria Nuland have been behind this coup at the end of last year. These are the people who are actually running the show, probably more than Obama, he is just a puppet at this stage. And they want to force the confrontation. They have been lying about the entire situation since February 21-22 and the truth of matter is the US government, the US State Department, President Obama supported Nazis, Svoboda and Right Sector who carried out overthrow of the government. And the lies coming out of the US New York Times, The Washington Post and media have nothing telling the truth without who is actually responsible for the confrontations in Kiev and in the eastern Ukraine.

RT:And do you think the US and the EU will make any concessions of their own now, to try and help resolve the crisis?

LF: Don’t forget there has been an enormous amount of disagreement with President Obama on how to handle Russia. This is an all-out war going on inside the German government, inside the CDU, CSU, inside the German military and in other countries in Europe that now do not agree with the sanctions and realize they will be suicidal and destroying their economies which are already extremely weak because of the enormous amount of fictitious derivatives that dominate the banking system. I think that there is support for rational people in Germany and elsewhere to avoid the further confrontation and I think they have made it known to President Putin in various informal ways as well.

RT:Do you think Kiev will continue its military operation against the people in East Ukraine? Or will authorities stop it and start negotiations?

LF: They have to if they want to have a country. They cannot allow neo-Nazis and right-wing fascists to run the government being part of the military and security operation. If they want to be a country they can’t do that. The other problem Ukraine has is that the IMF now is coming in. Every time the IMF comes to your country, look out. Prices are going to rise, subsidies are going to be reduced, pensions are going to be reduced and the IMF will actually end up killing more people than any other institution if they can get away with it.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

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