“The complicated panorama for Russia after the sinking of the Moskva”, by Rodrigo Murillo

The satellite image showed a bright spot, in Black Sea waters near Odessa. Rough waves, vision-clouding rain, wind currents. A weather report that leaves little to the imagination, and that surely complicated the rescue efforts. But let’s go back to the satellite, a moment: around the bright spot, the image is unequivocal. One, two, three ships approach cautiously. They want to help, help, save lives. The heavy cruiser has exploded in a ball of fire. And the hundreds of sailors of him? Surprised and prisoners. An ending worthy of a nightmare.

LOOK: How is the Neptune missile with which Ukraine claims to have destroyed the Russian flagship Moskva

The sinking of the Moskva, flagship not only of the Black Sea fleet, but of the entire Putin Navy (along with Admiral Kuznetsov), marks a milestone in the war in Eastern Europe. In principle, because it implies an irreplaceable loss for Russia’s naval forces (given Turkey’s refusal to allow military ships to enter through the Straits). And, furthermore, because it shows not only the lethality of the weapons that kyiv currently operates; but also because it clarifies the increasingly evident disposition with which NATO’s strategic forces have assisted Ukraine to punish Russia where it was considered invulnerable.

And it is that, as various intelligence analyzes point out, the attack on the Moskva (a recently modernized cruise ship, even capable of sinking aircraft carriers and which had sophisticated anti-missile defense mechanisms) could not have been carried out without complex satellite and electronic technology support. . Even more so if the weapon that killed the cruiser is a Ukrainian-manufactured Neptune missile, of which there would be barely a dozen in service, and which was tested for the first time against a cruiser of these proportions. Miraculous result? For the Ukraine, perhaps; for NATO, no big deal.

The course of the conflict

Where then is the conflict between the Russians and the Ukrainians headed after the sinking of the Moskva? With Putin’s offensive in northern Ukraine failing – Lukashenko appears to have spared Belarus from delivering the coup de grâce – it is likely that kyiv’s gamble will pay off.

roll. London and Washington, aware of the weakness of even Moscow’s most sophisticated weaponry, support this strategic shift. The slogan is one: Putin will not only fail to achieve his main goal, but will end the war with NATO closer to his borders. He will have before him this time a really dangerous front. And not only Ukraine, which after the destruction suffered will be at odds with Moscow for several decades, but also Sweden and Finland would be ready to consummate the Kremlin’s nightmare: the birth of a unified front that, from the icy waters of the north to the warm peninsula of Crimea, it will be the worst geopolitical balance against which Russia has ever had to deal in its history – and it has a history.

Consistent with this objective, and following the instructions of Joe Biden, Boris Johnson has announced the shipment of lethal weapons to kyiv: heavy tanks and, in a threatening nod to the remaining Russian ships, modern anti-ship missiles. Britain will be the sword through which NATO support will be channeled. But there is still more. Neutral Sweden, which has not fought a war since 1814, has already announced its willingness to join NATO in the shortest possible time, because in the words of Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, the Russian aggression marks “a before and after” in the history of your country.

threat from the north

The case that strikes Russia the most, however, is that of Finland. Rushing to join NATO even before the end of June, Minister Pekka Haavisto announced, Finland can boast an armed force designed exclusively to counter Moscow. Formidable artillery pieces, and at the forefront of aerospace surveillance and missile technology, Finland is capable of mobilizing up to 900,000 soldiers in the event of war. And, despite the fact that it has a population of just 5.6 million inhabitants, compared, for example, to the 83.2 million that Germany has, Helsinki has more armored vehicles than Berlin; in addition to North American F-18 aircraft and, very soon, the F-35 that make up the spearhead of NATO. The cherry of the cake? This arsenal will be located about 320 kilometers from St. Petersburg, the hometown of Vladimir Putin.

Perhaps for this reason, it has been announced that, in the event that Sweden and Finland do indeed join NATO, Russia will be forced to deploy its nuclear weapons in the Baltic. A threat that, although credible, seems to be less and less effective in avoiding the defensive radicalization of the countries that see, in the mirror of Ukrainian suffering, an indication of their eventual destiny. After all, tens of thousands of young people are perishing in this adventure that is already more than fifty days old. And the mothers, and the wives, and the orphans that he has suffered – not only Ukraine – but also Russia? Public opinion has disappeared to such an extent under the Putin regime that we can hardly imagine its suffering. As in the case of the sailors of the Moskva cruiser, whose number and identity we will know one day.

Source: Elcomercio

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