RAF Tornado warplane with bombs, photo Ministry of Defence (Creative Commons)

RAF Tornado warplane with bombs, photo Ministry of Defence (Creative Commons)   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

A further deterioration in relations between the US administration, and its allies, with Putin’s regime in Russia has ratcheted-up tensions between the two blocs.

This follows a massive build-up of Russian forces on the borders of Ukraine, followed within days by Washington’s imposition of widespread sanctions against Moscow for alleged serious cyber and hacking attacks on US institutions, and the US electoral process. Then, on 16 April, Russia expelled ten US and three Polish officials in retaliation for US and Polish sanctions.

And although a proposed Biden-Putin summit has sought to de-escalate the crisis, the expulsion of Russian officials from the Czech Republic over Russia’s alleged sabotage of an arms storage depot in that country back in 2014, has added fuel to the fire.

Meanwhile, protests are set to reignite this week within Russia against Putin, as the health of the jailed opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, deteriorates.

None of the beatings of the war drums and other machinations of the competing ruling classes of Washington or Moscow serve the interests of the working classes on either side of the Atlantic, who continue to suffer from the oppression and exploitation of capitalism.

  • Read Clare Doyle’s analysis of the situation on socialistworld.net