Earlier in the week several Russian military drones launched from Belarus entered Polish airspace, a move Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called a "large-scale provocation." Senior National Security Studies Fellow at the New American Foundation, Douglas Ollivant told Newsmax on Saturday that the incident shows "[Russian President Vladimir] Putin is now clearly the obstacle to there being peace."
"I think the negotiations were not in a good place before the drone attacks. We've seen President [Donald] Trump speak that he's growing frustrated, that he's losing patience with President Putin, because President Putin is now clearly the obstacle to there being peace. President Trump has made that clear — we weren't in a good place before these drone attacks, the drone attacks certainly don't help, and it's hard to see any type of talks or ceasefire or negotiations restarting anytime soon," Ollivant said during an appearance on "Wake Up America Weekend."
Senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Colonel Mark Cancian, joined the conversation and said the recent joint military exercises between Russia and Belarus has put the Baltic states on edge.
"This is a relatively small exercise. I think there are about 10,000 troops, 2,000 Russians and about 8,000 Belarusians. It's a relatively common exercise. But it does show that Russia and Belarus are still closely allied militarily, and that they are exercising capabilities outside of Ukraine, something that makes, for example, the Baltic countries very nervous," he added.
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James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.