MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/. The degree of US involvement in the conflict in Ukraine will only increase over time, which may eventually lead to a clash with Russia similar to the Moscow-Washington standoffs during the wars in Korea and Vietnam, the director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for the US and Canadian Studies, Valery Garbuzov, told TASS on Tuesday.
He recalled the role of US and Soviet military specialists in the wars in Korea and Vietnam, when the parties were not direct adversaries, but still participated in hostilities against each other.
"I do not rule out something like this now, because there are American advisers there [in Ukraine]. Involvement in a war usually follows the same scenario: first, advisers, then an expanded contingent, and so on. There you have it. Getting out of the war is always very difficult. It was like this in Korea and Vietnam. Why can’t the same happen during this conflict?" Garbuzov said.
The expert doubts that Moscow and Washington will be able to establish a dialogue and start negotiations on Ukraine in the foreseeable future.
"Relations are frozen and will remain so for a long while. The referendums have not played any role. The situation is only getting worse, because the United States perceives this as another annexation by Russia. This provokes a new set of sanctions and US assistance to Ukraine," the expert explained.
He predicts that the conflict in Ukraine may go on for years. Relations between Russia and the United States are unlikely to be restored during this period.
"I don’t think there can be negotiations. Either side sticks to its own reasons and wants to negotiate the surrender of the opposite side. But this will not happen. I think that the conflict is a long-term one. It is going to last not months, but years," Garbuzov added.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pointed out that Washington did not object to the use of Western weapons by Kiev against Russia’s new territories. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in turn, said that the United States had lost touch with reality and actually become a party to the conflict in Ukraine.