Russia has “significant firepower” and it is reckless to talk about defeating it, according to a former Soviet economic adviser.
Jeffrey Sachs, now an economics professor at Columbia University, said the US seemed to believe it could defeat Russia militarily and that the West was supporting Ukraine in its efforts to push Russia out.
“With that in mind, Ukraine decided not to continue the negotiations that were already underway” even though negotiations were progressing at the end of March, he told CNBC’s “Asian street signs” on Friday. Instead, Ukraine “changed tune and said that now their goal is to defeat Russia.”
What does an escalation of war mean, an escalation of global dangers, an escalation of an economic downturn, and a lost opportunity to find a way out of this conflict as envisioned, Sachs said. Fort”.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said this week that he did not foresee the Ukraine peace talks that would happen in the immediate future.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and the White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment, sent after business hours.
I believe the danger is very high and there are a lot of naive people right now…
Jeffrey Sachs
former economic adviser to the Soviet Union
‘Horrible danger’
Sachs said there was no stopping point from “a clear US war objective” at this point, and that it was a dangerous situation.
“I’ve spent decades with America’s reckless foreign policy, America’s guts, and I fear we’ll have that again,” he said. “This is not to condone Russian aggression. “
“I believe the dangers are very high and there is a lot of naivety right now and Ukraine has bought into it.”
There can be a lot of devastation, loss of life and “great danger to the whole world”, including forms of economic spillover, the professor said.
Russia has “significant firepower” and it’s reckless to talk about defeating it, said Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University.
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He added that It is expected that Finland will join NATO makes it difficult to reach a negotiated outcome, and that leaves NATO and Russia “on the edge of the knife”.
Not everyone agrees.
Michal Baranowski of the German Governors Fund said NATO’s potential expansion into the Nordic countries reduces the risk of conflict with Russia.
He told CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Friday.
“Bring Sweden and Finland [into NATO] make our alliances safer and military confrontation with Russia less likely, although obviously Russia of course wouldn’t like this,” said Baranowski, a senior colleague.
