Not unsurprisingly, Russian officials harshly condemned the visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan as a provocation, but senior Russian foreign policy analysts expressed hope that Pelosi's visit to Taiwan was a game changer that would push China into a firm alliance with Russia where they would have each other's back against the US and its allies.
Russian Commentators Debate Seriousness Of The Crisis With Ukraine In Donbass, And Who Bears Responsibility For Its Outbreak
April 14, 2021 | By Amiel Ungar and Anatoly Strandberg
Russia has been concentrating forces in the Voronezh area 150 miles from the Ukrainian border. Reports surfaced in Russia of a shortage of rail transport for agricultural vehicles, because the military had booked the rail carriers for its purposes.[1] The West feared that the troop concentrations, ostensibly for snap inspections represented a reprise of the strategy employed in the seizure and annexation of Crimea in 2014 when military exercises served as a pretext for concentration forces. A series of Western statements expressing backing for Ukraine followed in an attempt to head off such a scenario. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received calls of support from US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. French President Emmanuel Macr