ATHENS, October 30. /TASS/. The US neoconservatives' plan for encircling Russia by NATO forces in the Black Sea region has failed and Ukraine is now faced with the risk of an economic and military collapse, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, of Columbia University, said in an article published by the Greek newspaper Kathimerini.

The neoconservatives' plan for encircling Russia with NATO forces in the Black Sea region has failed. The decisions that the US and Russia will now make will have a huge impact on peace, security and prosperity the world over, says Sachs. He points to four events that have dashed the neoconservatives' hopes for NATO's eastward expansion - Ukraine, Georgia, and so on. Ukraine is devastated, having suffered tragic and horrific losses on the battlefield. Russia is winning the war of attrition, which was well expected from the beginning, but the neoconservatives and the mainstream media keep denying this, Sachs believes.

Europe's support for the US neoconservative strategy is declining, he goes on to say. Poland is no longer negotiating with Ukraine. Hungary has long opposed the neoconservatives. Slovakia has elected an anti-neoconservative government. The EU leaders’ disapproval ratings outweigh by far the backing that they still enjoy. The decline in US economic support for Kiev is also significant. Rank-and-file members of the Republican Party, several presidential contenders from that party and a growing number of Republicans in Congress oppose further spending on Ukraine, Sachs notes. The way he sees it, Russia may step up its offensive at a time when Ukraine has suffered huge losses in manpower, equipment, artillery and air defenses.

"Ukraine is in danger of economic, demographic and military collapse. What should the US government do to help the country deal with this potential disaster? There is an urgent need to change the policy. President Joseph Biden should inform President Vladimir Putin that the United States will stop NATO's eastward expansion if they reach a new security agreement. Biden should agree to negotiate a security agreement similar to President Putin's December 17 proposals. Biden acted foolishly when he refused to negotiate with Putin in December 2021. Now is the time to do it," Sachs writes.

Settlement proposals

Sachs sees four clues to reaching an agreement. Biden should agree not to expand NATO eastward, but also not to cancel the previous waves of expansion. A future agreement must cover nuclear weapons. The US unilateral pullout from the 1972 ABM Treaty in 2002 and from the intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles elimination treaty (INF) in 2019, the deployment of Aegis missiles in Poland and Romania, and the suspension of New START by Russia in 2023 have caused serious tensions, Sachs says. He believes that Moscow and Kiev will have to agree on a new border on the condition Crimea and the regions of eastern Ukraine remain part of Russia. The border changes would be accompanied by security guarantees for Ukraine to be unanimously supported by the UN Security Council and such countries as Germany, Turkey and India, Sachs speculates.

He considers the restoration of trade, economic, cultural and tourist relations between the US, EU and Russia as another aspect. The key to long-term peace in Europe is collective security, as required by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Sachs stressed.