Moscow Can’t Afford 'a Second Front' in Its War with the West, Khodaryonok Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 26 – Many of the same Russian officials who predicted a blitzkrieg in Ukraine are now talking about the ease with which Russian forces could deal with Poland and the Baltic countries, but resistance there would be far greater and consequently, Russia can’t risk of opening a second front in its war with the West. Mikhail Khodaryonok says.

            The former senior official of the Chief Operational Administration of the Russian General Staff who attracted attention earlier for saying a war in Ukraine would not be easy (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/02/only-place-russia-could-expand-without.html) is now warning against any Russian attack on NATO (versia.ru/rossiya-i-nato-gotovyatsya-k-stolknoveniyu-v-arktike).

            “Prior to the beginning of the Ukrainian special operation,” he says, “I warned that there would not be any blitzkrieg or easy march to victory and offered what in my view are weighty reasons for that conclusion. Time has shown that I was right.”

            But unfortunately, those who ignored that warning now are once again engaged in “fantasies” about what the Russian military can do. They have forgotten some important realities. “Ukraine alone will exhaust us enough.” Attacking Poland or the Baltic countries would open “a second front” in a war where “Ukraine alone will exhaust us enough.”

            The West is now supplying Ukraine with weapons but these are not the very best weapons it has, Khodaryonok says. Those have already gone to Poland and the Baltic countries are. Given Russian difficulties in fighting against the older weapons, advocates of a second front should think about how much worse fighting against the best the West has to offer will be.