“All I can say is that there will be neither war nor peace… A little war, a little peace,” he added.
McFaul said he believed the impasse was playing right into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he said wanted the conflict to rage on as a means of keeping pressure on Kiev, with an eye to precipitating an economic collapse.
As to the West, Michael McFaul said it was holding out for a negotiated solution to the crisis. “But not Putin… He wants this situation to remain as it is,” the diplomat continued.
According to the former ambassador a recent discussion with President Barack Obama at Stanford University, where McFaul is a Professor of Political Science, centered entirely on the situation in Ukraine.
Michael McFaul had earlier said that the United States could reconsider the issue of possible arms deliveries to Ukraine after the 2016 presidential elections.
