MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/. Upcoming NATO summit may be critical turning point for Ukraine crisis; the EU tries again to approve latest anti Russian sanctions package; and Iranian president kicks off inaugural Latin America tour in Venezuela. These stories topped Wednesday’s newspaper headlines across Russia. Izvestia: How NATO’s upcoming summit may prove pivotal for Ukrainian crisis Talk is increasing in the West that Ukraine must score some successes in its counteroffensive before the next NATO summit in July. Otherwise, military and financial support for Kiev may start to shrink, Izvestia writes. The annual NATO summit will take place in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on July 11 12. For the past several years, Kiev has been demanding clear cut decisions from the bloc, primarily regarding Ukraine's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance. In response, however, Kiev has received only fulsome assurances that support would continue for as long as it takes. But, as for NATO membership itself, that issue would not be discussed until Ukraine wins. Notably, fully 45.3% of the collective assistance to Ukraine overall comes from the United States. However, the problem for the White House is that it is running out of time. The US presidential election campaign has now begun in earnest and incumbent President Joe Biden is the only one of the four main candidates from the two major parties who insists that Washington must continue to lend full support to Kiev. The more funds are allocated without producing the desired results, the less value the Ukrainian project will have for the Americans, Viktoria Zhuravlyova, head of the Center for North American Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO RAN), pointed out. Next year, Biden will have to show successes. Even today, it’s rather hard to paint the situation as a foreign policy victory, which is why there is so much talk about the West’s unity and the United States’ leading role in the process. Still, it’s not enough to outweigh domestic political problems, the expert noted. If the Ukrainian armed forces fail on the battlefield, Washington will face a limited menu of options to choose from, said Vladimir Vasilyev, senior research fellow at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies. The first option is to start a domestic debate on ways to reformat the conflict that distracts from the containment of China, while military assistance is ineffective. The second way out is to try to shift the narrative to downplay Kiev’s failures in a certain sense. Additionally, there is always the possibility of making the current Ukrainian leadership out to be a scapegoat. As for the US political class, it has the option of ‘sacrificing’ the Biden administration, especially since grounds to do so are readily available, the expert stressed. That said, the Vilnius summit, which will be taking place a month after the upsurge in active military operations, will not only indicate the level of future support for the Kiev regime, but will also shed light on the viability of the European security project that favors freezing the conflict immediately or as soon as possible. But, the strategic goals that Russia seeks to achieve in the conflict are another question altogether. According to President Vladimir Putin, they have not changed.

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MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/. Upcoming NATO summit may be critical turning point for Ukraine crisis; the EU tries again to approve latest anti Russian sanctions package; and Iranian president kicks off inaugural Latin America tour in Venezuela. These stories topped Wednesday’s newspaper headlines across Russia. Izvestia: How NATO’s upcoming summit may prove pivotal for Ukrainian crisis Talk is increasing in the West that Ukraine must score some successes in its counteroffensive before the next NATO summit in July. Otherwise, military and financial support for Kiev may start to shrink, Izvestia writes. The annual NATO summit will take place in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on July 11 12. For the past several years, Kiev has been demanding clear cut decisions from the bloc, primarily regarding Ukraine's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance. In response, however, Kiev has received only fulsome assurances that support would continue for as long as it takes. But, as for NATO membership itself, that issue would not be discussed until Ukraine wins. Notably, fully 45.3% of the collective assistance to Ukraine overall comes from the United States. However, the problem for the White House is that it is running out of time. The US presidential election campaign has now begun in earnest and incumbent President Joe Biden is the only one of the four main candidates from the two major parties who insists that Washington must continue to lend full support to Kiev. The more funds are allocated without producing the desired results, the less value the Ukrainian project will have for the Americans, Viktoria Zhuravlyova, head of the Center for North American Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO RAN), pointed out. Next year, Biden will have to show successes. Even today, it’s rather hard to paint the situation as a foreign policy victory, which is why there is so much talk about the West’s unity and the United States’ leading role in the process. Still, it’s not enough to outweigh domestic political problems, the expert noted. If the Ukrainian armed forces fail on the battlefield, Washington will face a limited menu of options to choose from, said Vladimir Vasilyev, senior research fellow at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies. The first option is to start a domestic debate on ways to reformat the conflict that distracts from the containment of China, while military assistance is ineffective. The second way out is to try to shift the narrative to downplay Kiev’s failures in a certain sense. Additionally, there is always the possibility of making the current Ukrainian leadership out to be a scapegoat. As for the US political class, it has the option of ‘sacrificing’ the Biden administration, especially since grounds to do so are readily available, the expert stressed. That said, the Vilnius summit, which will be taking place a month after the upsurge in active military operations, will not only indicate the level of future support for the Kiev regime, but will also shed light on the viability of the European security project that favors freezing the conflict immediately or as soon as possible. But, the strategic goals that Russia seeks to achieve in the conflict are another question altogether. According to President Vladimir Putin, they have not changed.