Tillerson' scurrying off to the Kremlin is ominous for Ukraine

Yesterday's 5 hour Congressional Hearing into Putin's direct meddling into the US presidential elections, with the aid and assistance of senior members of Donald Trump's election committee, has revealed the direct link between Putin's war with Ukraine and his stealing and dissemination of data from the Democratic Party computer systems to undermine Hillary Clinton, and help Trump win the White House.

The US-EU sanctions against Putin and his Kremlin 'siloviki', that followed his invasion and annexation of Ukrainian Crimea, and his subsequent invasion of eastern Ukraine (Donbas), is now centre-stage in the Congressional investigation into his direct meddling in the US presidential elections which was aided and abetted by some of Trump's loyal lieutenants.

And we now have breaking news from Reuters that,

"U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to skip a meeting with NATO foreign ministers next month in order to stay home for a visit by China's president and will go to Russia later in April, U.S. officials said on Monday, disclosing an itinerary that allies may see as giving Moscow priority over them.

Tillerson intends to miss what would have been his first meeting of the 28 NATO allies on April 5-6 in Brussels so that he can attend President Donald Trump's expected April 6-7 talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, four current and former U.S. officials said." (Arshad Mohammed and John Walcott: Reuters : Tue Mar 21, 2017) (my emphasis)

Recall that I suggested last month that,

"And as of yesterday (15/2/2017) the unraveling of the Putin-Trump connection continues apace.

Putin's gambit to help Trump get elected, and to then get Trump to help him with removing the US and EU sanctions against  himself and his 'siloviki' clan because of his ill-fated Crimean and eastern Ukraine (Donbas) invasions, seems to be fading fast.

The scarlet thread of Maidan continues to wrap itself even tighter around both Putin and Trump.(blog entry : Thursday, 16 February 2017)

Tillerson's scurrying off to the Kremlin next month, and foregoing his first meeting with all NATO members,  just as the Congressional and Senate investigations into Putin's direct intervention in the US presidential elections are set in motion, signals that both Putin and Trump are beginning to panic.

The imminent failure of Putin's "Trump gambit", as the Congressional and Senate hearings gain momentum, presents the world with the prospect of a wider war between Ukraine and Putin.

Now, more than at any time, Merkel's illusion of clinging to the Minsk2 agreements as a panacea for bringing a peaceful resolution to the war between Ukraine and Putin, has simply evaporated into thin air.

Like Trump, Putin simply cannot admit failure without lashing out. And herein lies the danger.

For both Trump and Putin, the eyes of the world cannot be averted this time with either 'tweets' or scaremongering 'sabre rattling'.

Tillerson's scurrying off to the Kremlin is ominous for Ukraine.

(to be continued)