What else will happen until February 24th

Friday marks the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. What Biden, Putin, the UN, the OSCE and China are up to by then. An overview.

Nfter his surprise visit to Kiev on Monday, the American President is traveling Joe Biden further to Poland. Various appointments await him in Warsaw on Tuesday and Wednesday. According to the White House, a meeting with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and a speech in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw are planned. Biden is also to meet with representatives of other Central and Eastern European NATO countries. The American President had already given a speech in front of the royal palace at the end of March 2022. In it he hit hard tones against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Biden said, among other things, that he “cannot stay in power”.

On Tuesday want Putin deliver his annual State of the Union address. Putin addresses the Federal Assembly, i.e. the Federation Council and the State Duma, at the Gostiny Dvor venue in Moscow. Exactly one year ago on this day, the Russian President officially recognized the independence of the two “people’s republics” Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the speech will deal both with the war, which is described as a “military special operation”, and with the country’s development prospects. This is Putin’s 18th state of the nation address. The live transmission on state television turns the event into a big event.

Russian representative to the OSCE

The United Nations General Assembly plans to vote on a new resolution against Russia on Thursday evening in New York. The focus should be on the “principles for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace” and the withdrawal of Russian troops behind the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine. According to UN diplomats, the draft resolution is general, in order to win as many countries as possible for it. A detailed plan for the implementation of peace negotiations can therefore hardly be expected. Since the beginning of the war, five resolutions condemning the Russian invasion have been passed in the General Assembly. foreign minister Annalena Bärbock (Greens) will travel to New York for the anniversary; after the General Assembly, the UN Security Council is also scheduled to meet on February 24th.

Last but not least, the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, which takes place in Vienna on Thursday and Friday. Because a delegation of members of the Russian parliament is arriving, Ukraine and Lithuania have canceled their participation. The Austrian government argues that it has to give the Russian participants an entry permit because this is stipulated in the treaties for Vienna as the OSCE’s headquarters. Austria’s Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told the FAZ that dialogue channels with Moscow are still needed. The OSCE had never been a “club of like-minded people”.. China also apparently wants to present a peace plan for the anniversary on Friday. At the Munich Security Conference, the top Chinese foreign politician, Wang Yi, announced that he would submit a paper for a diplomatic solution. Details are not yet known.