The term red lines has seen use in the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It is a veiled threat of engagement intended to warn an opponent or observer not to interfere or undertake an action or behavior that would "cross the red line."
On 21 April 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a speech in which he repeatedly warned the West of red lines that Russia would not accept. The warnings were repeated on many occasions up to the date of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. [1] In particular, Russia identified Ukraine's possible admission to NATO as a 'red line'. During a December 2021 phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and President Putin, "Putin told Biden that Ukraine's bid to join NATO must be denied in return for assurances that Russian troops would not carry out an attack." [2] NATO's General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg rejected Russia's demand that it reverse its 2008 pledge to allow Ukraine to join NATO. "NATO’s relationship with Ukraine is going to be decided by the 30 NATO allies and Ukraine, no one else." [3]
To some experts[ who? ], the number of red lines that have been crossed reveal the inability of belligerents involved in the war to project power internationally. [4]
The mention of red lines has been in everyday use since the beginning of the renewed Ukraine conflict to justify the war. In February of 2022, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation stated that the United States and its Western partners had crossed a red line concerning Ukraine, which resulted in consequence of Russia having to undertake its "Special Military Operation" against Ukraine due to the threat imposed from Ukraine to the very existence of the Russian Federation. [5]
Crossing a red line to the Russian Federation is often identified as damaging Russian national interests. Such actions may include the imposition of sanctions, the freezing of Russian or affiliated nation funds, and the donation of military goods to its perceived adversaries or others.
While the Russian Federation commonly uses the "red line" phrase in international politics, it has simultaneously used it to shape narratives aimed at domestic audiences.
In June 2023, President Putin said that Russia would keep responding to breaches of its red lines. [6] President Putin has been consistent about the threat of nuclear action being used solely in the event of crossing the red line of an existential threat to the state. [7]
In 2023, Russia made 15 official "red line" statements, compared to 24 in 2022. [8]
Russia has used the phrase "red line" often, and because some of these lines have been crossed without major repercussions, some believe that Russia has devalued the impact of their threats, with the threats appearing more as bluffs. [9]
There may be an actual red line that Russia and the Kremlin have, but it is largely unclear what it consists of. [9]
Some of the red-line threats from Russia may be bluffs solely to slow the supply of resources to Ukraine, making the West consider their options and delaying action. [10]
Others may be used to show that an escalation has occurred once a line is crossed. Red lines are nearly always soft, variable, and adjustable rather than immutable hard-line positions. [11]
Russia and Ukraine have mentioned red lines regarding acceptable peace terms in diplomacy. One such example of a diplomatic Russian red line leaves Russia keeping Crimea, and another Ukrainian red line sees all Russian forces leave the territory that belonged to Ukraine on 31 December 1991. [12] [13] These red lines appear incompatible.
As time has progressed in the war, a set of implicit rules has emerged which fit between current operations and red lines and affect the rule creator. [14] [10]
Examples of such tacit rules include:
Under these stated rules, Russia would cross a red line if they attacked a NATO country, and NATO would cross a self-imposed red line if they sent troops into Ukraine. The above aims to limit an expansion of the war; however, it is not all one-sided, as other tacit rules are:
Date notified | Red line | Date crossed | Consequences | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Ukrainian incursion into Russian-occupied Crimea | August 23, 2023 | [21] [22] | |
September 2021 | Ukraine not joining NATO | not crossed yet | [23] [22] [24] | |
September 2021 | NATO military infrastructure not to be deployed in Ukraine | not crossed yet | [23] [22] [24] | |
September 2021 | No deployment of soldiers to Ukraine | April 12, 2023 | [25] [24] | |
December 2021 | No weapons to Ukraine | February 2022 | Threats over non-disguised intervention by NATO | [25] [28] [29] |
February 24, 2022 | “Interference” in Ukraine by outside powers | February 24, 2022 | Reduction in gas supply to the west | [22] |
February 2022 | NATO troops and missiles to be withdrawn from Russia's western border | February 2022 | [30] | |
February 2022 | NATO to stop eastward expansion and reverses back to position in 1997 | February 2022 | [30] | |
March 2022 | No introducing a “no-fly” zone | not crossed yet | [31] | |
March 2022 | No more Western arms to Ukraine | March 2022 | Convoys will be considered legitimate targets | [32] [22] |
March 2022 | No MiG-29 fighter jets | March 2022 | Supplied MiGs will be destroyed | [10] |
April 2022 | No direct foreign intervention in war | not crossed yet | [33] [22] | |
June 2022 | No long-range missiles | June 2022 | New targets hit by Russian missiles | [34] [22] |
June 2022 | No Western-made missiles to be fired into Russia | Dec 2023 | [35] | |
August 2022 | No supplying old Soviet tanks to Ukraine | August 2022 | [38] | |
September 2022 | Germany's supply of lethal weapons to Ukraine crosses a red line | September 2022 | [39] | |
September 2022 | Russian setbacks on the battlefield will result in a nuclear holocaust | September 2022 | [40] | |
September 2022 | Not to threaten the territorial integrity of Russia (as its borders were prior to 2014) | August 6, 2024 | There have been many attacks and incursions on Russian soil since the war began, some claimed by Kyiv and some carried out by Belarusian and Russian partisans. The first major ground offensive by the regular Ukrainian Armed Forces began on 6 August 2024, in the Kursk Oblast, where Ukraine gained and held Russian territory for the first time. | [40] |
September 2022 | Not to supply longer range battlefield missiles (greater than HIMARS's current 80 kilometres (50 mi)) | May 2023 | Red line pulled back | [44] [45] |
November 2022 | Not to supply Patriot Missile system | April 2023 | [46] | |
January 2023 | No modern Western tanks to be supplied to Ukraine | January 2023 | Comments about it being an "extremely dangerous" action | [47] [45] |
May 2023 | No F-16 fighter jets | July 2024 | Comments about it being a "colossal risk" | [48] |
June 2023 | No HIMARS or Storm Shadow missiles to attack Russian territory (as its borders were before 2014) | June 2024 | [8] [49] [50] | |
September 2023 | No US ATACMS long-range missiles to attack Russian territory | October 2023 | Putin said in October that US deliveries of the long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to Ukraine were "another mistake" | [51] [52] [53] |
October 2024 | No authorizing the AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine] to use Western long-range missiles to strike deep into Russian territory | November 2024 | [54] [55] |
Current red lines
Date notified | Red line | Date broken | Consequences | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Russia not to invade Ukraine | February 2022 | Immediate sanctions | [56] |
February 2022 | Threats against a NATO country | several times against Poland and Baltic countries | [57] | |
February 2022 | Not to surrender the independent right of any country to apply to join NATO | not broken | [58] | |
March 2022 | No chemical weapons | May 1, 2024 | [59] [60] [61] | |
International law | Murder and abduction of children | 2022-2023 | International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova | [62] |
NATO rules | Interfering with civilian ships belonging to NATO countries in the Black Sea Russian warships stop and board NATO member civilian ship (Turkish) in international waters | August 2023 | NATO warships from Romania and Bulgaria patrol and sweep the Ukrainian grain corridor for mines | [63] |
Red lines come in differing levels of severity. Some of these are bluffs, with parties to the conflict having given many red lines transcended without issue during the last decade. Belligerents and non-belligerents alike have employed several tactics to counter red-line policies. Such counter-measures aim to allow the crossing of red lines with significantly fewer or no consequences. [10] [64] [4] [ original research? ]
Red lines set by Russia have affected NATO member-state decisions concerning Ukraine. For example, the United Kingdom—apart from refusing to have British soldiers participate—has supplied most pieces of equipment and undertaken training missions that they are in a position to do; however, many other countries have shown timidity and concern over the red lines, resulting in a lack of, or delay in, providing assistance to Ukraine. [73]
Certain chemical weapons being deployed by Russia are pushing the boundaries of Western red lines, as is the treatment of civilians, especially Ukrainian children. [74]
Many countries outside of the direct belligerents active in the Russo-Ukrainian war have interests within it. As a result, foreign parties such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and the People's Republic of China have established their own so-called red lines.
When the international community refers to the crossing of "red lines", it tends to be limited to the use of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons and the supply of other lethal weapons. Below, a small list of such red lines has been provided.
World War III, also known as the Third World War, is a hypothetical future global conflict subsequent to World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). It is widely assumed that such a war would involve all of the great powers, like its predecessors, as well as the use of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction, surpassing all prior conflicts in geographic scope, devastation and loss of life.
Jens Stoltenberg is a Norwegian politician who served as the 13th secretary general of NATO from 2014 to 2024. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he was previously the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2005 until 2013.
Power projection in international relations is the capacity of a state to deploy and sustain forces outside its territory. The ability of a state to project its power into an area may serve as an effective diplomatic lever, influencing the decision-making processes and acting as a potential deterrent on other states' behavior.
The United States and Russia maintain one of the most important, critical, and strategic foreign relations in the world. Both nations have shared interests in nuclear safety and security, nonproliferation, counterterrorism, and space exploration.
The United States officially recognized the independence of Ukraine on December 25, 1991. The United States upgraded its consulate in the capital, Kyiv, to embassy status on January 21, 1992. In 2002, relations between the United States and Ukraine deteriorated after one of the recordings made during the Cassette Scandal revealed an alleged transfer of a sophisticated Ukrainian defense system to Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
Relations between Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) started in 1991 following Ukraine's independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Ukraine-NATO ties gradually strengthened during the 1990s and 2000s, and Ukraine aimed to eventually join the alliance. Although co-operating with NATO, Ukraine remained a neutral country. After it was attacked by Russia in 2014, Ukraine has increasingly sought NATO membership.
Relations between the NATO military alliance and the Russian Federation were established in 1991 within the framework of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. In 1994, Russia joined the Partnership for Peace program, and on 27 May 1997, the NATO–Russia Founding Act (NRFA) was signed at the 1997 Paris NATO Summit in France, enabling the creation of the NATO–Russia Permanent Joint Council (NRPJC). Through the early part of 2010s NATO and Russia signed several additional agreements on cooperation. The NRPJC was replaced in 2002 by the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), which was established in an effort to partner on security issues and joint projects together.
The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia occupied and annexed Crimea from Ukraine and supported pro-Russian separatists fighting the Ukrainian military in the Donbas War. These first eight years of conflict also included naval incidents and cyberwarfare. In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and began occupying more of the country, starting the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. The war has resulted in a refugee crisis and tens of thousands of deaths.
The foreign policy of the Joe Biden administration emphasizes the repair of the United States' alliances, which Biden argues were damaged during the Trump administration. The administration's goal is to restore the United States to a "position of trusted leadership" among global democracies in order to address challenges posed by Russia and China. Both Biden and his Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have repeatedly emphasized that no other world power should be able to surpass the United States, either militarily or economically. Biden's foreign policy has been described as having ideological underpinnings in mid-twentieth century liberal internationalism, American exceptionalism, and pragmatism.
In March and April 2021, prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Armed Forces began massing thousands of personnel and military equipment near Russia's border with Ukraine and in Crimea, representing the largest mobilisation since the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. This precipitated an international crisis due to concerns over a potential invasion. Satellite imagery showed movements of armour, missiles, and heavy weaponry towards the border. The troops were partially withdrawn by June 2021, though the infrastructure was left in place. A second build-up began in October 2021, this time with more soldiers and with deployments on new fronts; by December over 100,000 Russian troops were massed around Ukraine on three sides, including Belarus from the north and Crimea from the south. Despite the Russian military build-ups, Russian officials from November 2021 to 20 February 2022 repeatedly denied that Russia had plans to invade Ukraine.
Many states, international organizations, and civil society actors worldwide had expressed their reactions to the then-escalating crisis between Russia and Ukraine that started in March 2021. The crisis eventually culminated in a Russian invasion of Ukraine, beginning on 24 February 2022.
On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which started in 2014. The invasion, the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, has caused hundreds of thousands of military casualties and tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties. As of 2024, Russian troops occupy about 20% of Ukraine. From a population of 41 million, about 8 million Ukrainians had been internally displaced and more than 8.2 million had fled the country by April 2023, creating Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II.
The United States has supported Ukraine during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. After it began on 24 February 2022, President Joe Biden condemned the invasion, provided military, financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and imposed sanctions against Russia and Belarus.
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several senior Russian politicians, including president Vladimir Putin, former president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, have made a number of statements widely seen as nuclear blackmail. The possibility of Russia using tactical nuclear weapons, and the risk of broader nuclear escalation, has been widely discussed by commentators and in the media. By 2024, many of the Russian government's "red lines" had been crossed without nuclear weapons being used in response. As well as nuclear weapons threats, the Russian occupation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has led to a crisis over the safety of the plant and the risk of a nuclear disaster.
This timeline of the Russian invasion of Ukraine covers the period from 8 April 2022, when the area of heavy fighting shifted to the south and east of Ukraine, to 28 August 2022, the day before Ukraine announced the start of its Kherson counteroffensive.
Russia launched waves of missile and drone strikes against energy in Ukraine as part of its invasion. From 2022 the strikes targeted civilian areas beyond the battlefield, particularly critical power infrastructure, which is considered a war crime. By mid-2024 the country only had a third of pre-war electricity generating capacity, and some gas distribution and district heating had been hit.
This timeline of the Russian invasion of Ukraine covers the period from 12 November 2022, following the conclusion of Ukraine's Kherson and Kharkiv counteroffensives, to 7 June 2023, the day before the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive began. Russia continued its strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure while the battle of Bakhmut escalated.
On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, escalating the Russo-Ukrainian War that began in 2014 into the full-scale invasion and the biggest war in Europe since World War II. Twenty-one months later, on 20 November 2023, Ukraine had cumulatively received over $44 billion in materiel aid from the United States and over $35 billion from other allies on a month-to-month basis. The aid is logistical and is provided by drawdown of existing materiel that is then delivered to Ukraine. As this materiel is expended, the allied industrial base has been gradually drawn in to supply Ukraine but had not been fully engaged as of November 2023. Since January 2022, mostly Western nations have pledged more than $380 billion in aid to Ukraine, including nearly $118 billion in direct military aid to Ukraine from individual countries.
On 17 December 2021, during the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia published a list of demands for security guarantees in the form of two draft treaties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United States. The proposals included a ban on Ukraine and other ex-Soviet countries from joining NATO, and a roll-back in deployments of NATO troops and weapons in Central and Eastern Europe. The demands, issued during a period of high tensions during which about 100,000 Russian troops were massed on Ukraine's borders, were widely seen as an ultimatum and attempt by Russia to exert pressure and influence on the Western countries, as a sign of its dissatisfaction with the existing security architecture in Europe. The main demands were rejected by NATO and the U.S. on 26 January 2022. The Russian invasion of Ukraine followed one month later on 24 February.
The 2024 Washington summit was the 33rd summit of the heads of state and government of the thirty-two members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), their partner countries and the European Union (EU), which took place in Washington, D.C., United States, on 9–11 July 2024. The summit commemorates the landmark 75th anniversary of NATO, which was founded on 4 April 1949 with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, DC. The summit was also the fourth NATO summit to be held in the United States following the 1978 Washington summit, 1999 Washington summit and 2012 Chicago summit. It also marks the first summit since Sweden acceded to NATO and the last for Jens Stoltenberg as Secretary General.
{{cite web}}
: |last2=
has generic name (help)