A recent New York Times report shows the US was dangerously close to a direct conflict with Russia, Dmitry Suslov has told RT

The administration of former President Joe Biden pushed the US dangerously close to a direct military conflict - and even nuclear war - with Russia through its deep involvement in Ukraine's military operations, Valdai Club expert Dmitry Suslov has told RT.

In an interview on Sunday, Suslov commented on a recent investigation by the New York Times that claimed the US had provided Ukraine with even more support than earlier thought - which went beyond arms shipments and extended to daily battlefield coordination, intelligence sharing, and joint strategy planning. The report claimed that the nerve center of this cooperation was located in Wiesbaden, Germany.

The findings came as no surprise to Moscow, he noted.

"The investigation, of course, does not change the Russian perception of the war, because we have always known that the war in Ukraine was, in essence, a proxy war of the United States against Russia," Suslov, the deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, said.

"The investigation shows that the Biden administration truly walked the line of direct military confrontation with Russia," he continued. "It balanced, essentially, on the brink of nuclear war. That's how deep and direct its involvement was."

According to Suslov, the report clearly shows that Washington wants to take credit for Ukraine's battlefield successes while distancing itself from the setbacks. He also argued that the investigation was released now because the Biden administration has left office and the conflict is nearing the end.

"Now it is possible to talk openly about what it [the US] actually did during Biden's presidency," he said. "The war is relatively close to its conclusion. The Trump administration is trying to end it, and so this is, if you will, a form of mistakes review."

The report highlights the contrast between the approaches of Biden and President Donald Trump, he noted: "If the Biden administration was effectively managing the Ukrainian armed forces directly... the Trump administration positions itself as a neutral mediator seeking to end the war."

Suslov described the article as a kind of political assist to Trump, giving him an opportunity to claim he is saving the world from nuclear war.

Any future peace settlement must involve firm guarantees that Ukraine will cut off all military ties with the Western powers, Suslov went on to say. "No intelligence cooperation, no military cooperation, nothing like what was described in this investigation... nothing like the secret center in Wiesbaden," he added. "If Ukraine is caught violating this obligation, then severe sanctions must be imposed, along with appropriate punitive measures for breaking the peace agreement."

(RT.com)