Europe should play a major role in the Ukraine crisis. Primarily because it is the immediate neighbor of Russia and Ukraine.

Tensions between Russia and the West are at their peak in Ukraine. Russia has built up its strong military presence along its border with Ukraine. Approximately 100,000 soldiers are concentrated by Russia on the Russia-Ukraine border.

Russia demands that NATO should not expand eastwards and Ukraine should not become a member of NATO. But Diplomatic talks are not giving any results as the US has refused to accept this demand. Russia is surrounded by NATO members on its western border which also includes post soviet states like Latvia, Lithuania.

NATO also includes countries that were once the signees of the Warsaw pact such as Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Albania. And to add much to Russia’s stress the US recognized Georgia and Ukraine as the countries aspiring to join NATO.

The distance between the Ukrainian border and Russian capital Moscow is very less. Russia is surrounded by Nato allies on its western front. Ukraine lies at the crossroads of Russia and the west. Ukraine was one of the members of the Soviet Union and the second-largest economy in the Union before the Soviet Union disintegrated.

But the question is that the US is neither the immediate neighbor of Russia nor Ukraine. Why is it taking so much interest in Ukraine? Why isn’t the US allowing the EU to perform a leading role in resolving the Ukraine crisis? Let’s also analyze how the idea of NATO’s Eastward expansion of the US will be ultimately unviable for the US and NATO.

Ukraine has 395 million barrels of oil reserves and 349 billion cubic meters of gas reserves. This shows how important Ukraine is for big powers. Ukraine is a country rich in gas and oil. The Donbas region in Ukraine where there are two Russia-supported unrecognized Republics namely, Donetsk and Luhansk has huge coal reserves.

Probably, there is a competition between USA and Russia to have hegemony over these resources too. That’s why instead of the EU playing a major role in crisis resolution, the US is directly being involved in the crisis.

Europe should play a major role in the Ukraine crisis. Primarily because it is the immediate neighbor of Russia and Ukraine. Russia possesses the world’s highest proven gas reserves at 48,938 billion cubic meters that’s why one-third of Europe’s natural gas supply comes from Russia. Europe’s other sources of gas supply are not secure.

The gas pipeline coming from Algeria to Portuguese and Spanish gas grids (Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline) is not very secure because of Algeria’s dispute with Morroco. Ukraine plays a vital role in delivering Russian gas to European countries as Russia is a supplier of one-third of Europe’s natural gas needs.

In a scenario of imposition of sanctions by the US on Russia, Europe’s natural gas supply will be affected very badly. It looks like the US doesn’t want to give the lead to European Union in resolving the crisis. The US wants to weaken the Gas supply coming from Russia to Europe as it wants to give benefits to American Gas Corporations because Europe’s 1/3rd of gas supplies come from Russia.

America also protested against Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The opening of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline across the baltic sea will bypass Ukraine and deprive it of $2 bn of transit fees which Russia currently pays.

Also, Europe should also not aggravate the crisis by providing a huge amount of defense supplies and military aid to Ukraine as it will further aggravate the crisis. As recently these trends were seen. The armament industry is also very happy due to the developments in Ukraine.

Recently Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a decree on increasing the size of Ukraine’s armed forces by about 100,000 troops over three years. The United States has provided over $ 2.5 bn in military aid including Javelin anti-tank missiles, coastal patrol boats, Humvees, sniper rifles, reconnaissance drones, radar systems night vision, and radio equipment.

Ukraine purchased Bayraktar TB2 drones from Turkey. Estonia claimed to provide Javelin anti-armor missiles. Latvia and Lithuania have provided Stinger missiles to Ukraine. The Czech Republic plans to donate 152mm artillery ammunition. Britain reportedly supplied Ukraine with 2000 short-range anti-tank missiles. Whether the defense goods are purchased directly by Ukraine or come in form of donations and aid from other countries, the hidden profiteers are the armament giants.

After Afghanistan, Ukraine is emerging as a new conflict zone. This would spark an arms race and ultimately the Ukraine crisis will remain unsolved and the only beneficiary will be the armament industry because such conflict zones only help these arm giants to expand their businesses.

Also, the European Union’s method of problem-solving is less confrontational and more mature and peaceful. France and Germany which consists of the core of the European Union were once bitter enemies. But today they solve problems together. The most recent example can be the management of Covid in Europe which was led by the Franco-German Core of the European Union.

The US should understand that idea of eastwards expansion is not very viable. Just to maintain its hegemony over important geographical areas rich in resources and have command over important routes it should not go for an unviable eastward expansion.

In any case, Russia attacks a NATO member it will be obliged to defend its ally under NATO. If Ukraine is included in NATO then it will be obliged to protect and defend Ukraine. This will ultimately diminish the capacity of NATO to defend its allies. There is also a theory that ‘NATO could be entrapped by Central European states’.

Many of the NATO members and aspiring NATO members are at awkward locations and are nearer to Russia. Some of them harbor strong historical resentments and animosities towards Russia, some of them have unstable and underdeveloped government systems. That’s why the idea of the eastward expansion of NATO is not very feasible.

Hence, the EU should take the lead in the resolution of the Ukraine crisis. The US is geographically very far away from Ukraine and Russia but Europe is not. It is more a responsibility of Europe than the US to resolve this crisis.

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