The net is closing around Putin and Trump.

In 2014 Toni Frisch (left), Swiss Ambassador 

and the Chair of the Military and Civil Defense Assets Consultative Group of the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG), gave a presentation to the OSCE. 

The OSCE has published no information about this presentation except to state that,

"The views, opinions, conclusions and other information expressed in this document [ Toni Frisch's presentation] are not given nor necessarily endorsed by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) unless the OSCE is explicitly defined as the Author of this document." (OSCE : 20 May, 2014)

Fast forward to yesterday [14 February 2018] and Toni Frisch is now the OSCE special representative to the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk.

First Deputy Speaker of [Ukrainian] Parliament, Iryna Gerashchenko (left) now informs us that,

" ....  the Ukrainian representatives in Minsk today were confused with "the strange fact that the OSCE coordinator Toni Frisch, as it turned out, had met with Vladislav Surkov's adviser in Moscow and did not inform the group and the TCG about the meeting or its outcome." (UNIAN : 14 February, 2018) (my emphasis)

This secretive meeting between Frisch and Surkov (left) preceded, as reported by UNIAN, that,

"The working groups of the trilateral contact group on Ukraine have gathered in Minsk for talks, according to the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The talks will be followed by a meeting of the trilateral contact group, BelTA reported." (UNIAN : 14 February, 2018) (my emphasis)

This recent secretive meeting between Frisch and Surkov also comes amidst the fact that, as reported by Henry Ridgwell,

"A U.N. peacekeeping force in eastern Ukraine could pave the way for local elections within a year, according to a new report that aims to build on international momentum behind establishing such a mission.

...

The new report, commissioned by former NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen (right), now an adviser to Ukraine's president, calls for a peacekeeping force of 20,000 soldiers from non-NATO countries, led by Sweden." (VOA : 14 February, 2018) (my emphasis)

The fact that Rasmussen excludes NATO countries from participating in this peacekeeping force will rather wrong-foot Putin.

Which excuse, now, will Putin be able to muster to reject Rasmussen's proposal given that he, himself, first suggested in September, 2017, that,

"Russia will ask the U.N. Security Council to send peacekeepers to patrol the front line in eastern Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday, a development greeted by Germany as a new opportunity for detente." (Nataliya Vasilyeva : US News (AP) : Sept. 5, 2017) (my emphasis)

And as Rasmussen is proposing a UN peacekeeping force of 20,000 in the Donbas,  UNIAN reports that,

"Today another 2500 Night Vision Devices were transferred to our partners in the Ukrainian Armed Forces," the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine wrote on Facebook.

...

It was also reported that the draft federal budget of the United States of America for 2019 provides for the allocation of $200 million for strengthening Ukraine's security and defense." (UNIAN : 14 February, 2018) (my emphasis)

The exposure of the Frisch-Surkov secret meeting, together with the Rasmussen proposal of a 20,000 non-NATO peace-keeping force in the Donbas, and more US military equipment both arriving in, and promised to, Ukraine, rather puts into perspective the weak threats of Putin, as mouthed by his dyed-in-the-wool Soviet Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.

[More ominously, however, is the fact that Lavrov also recently stated that,

" .....Russia would "draw conclusions" in connection with the U.S. weapons supplies to Ukraine.

“It is also an objective fact that representatives of Donetsk and Luhansk are looking closely at this, being able to stand up for themselves. I believe this must also be kept in mind," Lavrov said. (UNIAN : 11 February,2018) (my emphasis) (blog entry 12 February)] 

Adding to Putin's woes is the fact that the American public is now becoming more aware of the direct link between Putin's fervent wish to have US sanctions against himself and his 'siloviki' scrapped, and his collusion with Trump during the 2016 US presidential elections, that led to Trump now sitting in the White House.

And more disconcerting for both Trump and Putin is the fact that the more 'salacious' details in the Christopher Steele dossier have indirect corroborating evidence from Trump's cavorting with a US 'lady of the night', "Stormy Daniels" (right), and the 'hush money' paid to her to keep quiet a month before the 2016 US presidential elections. 

Is the public exposure by Putin of those 'salacious' video-details of Trump in the Christopher Steele dossier his 'black-mailing' card against Trump?

The net is closing around Putin and Trump.

(to be continued)