When he was elected in May 2019, there was some hope in the Kremlin that an agreement could be reached with him for the normalization of relations. But then he turned out to be, in many respects, an even tougher nationalist than his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko. Putin had to find a way out of the impasse of the Minsk agreement, which had no future. He Whatsapp Mobile Number List decided to shift the center of gravity from Donbas to the whole of Ukraine. He began to wonder what place was reserved for Ukraine in NATO's plans. Would Ukraine be at least a neutral country or an open military ally? So Putin wanted to divert attention from the frozen situation in Donbas and start talking about interstate and global relations. Very simple: he started moving troops to the border. The idea was to force the West to react. Putin presented the West with a very simple challenge: to what extent will he support Ukraine militarily in the event of a military conflict? Or even simpler: will Whatsapp Mobile Number List if I invade the country? He wanted to see what happens at the borders of the European Union in the event of military intervention. He asked the question in his preferred way. Putin likes to challenge his opponent. She stands in front of him, looks him in the eye: «Well, what are you going to do? Are you going to hit me, or are you just gibberish? Who will back down first? He did it in Crimea in 2014, and then in Donbas. In reality, it was not a question of preparing an invasion, but of forcing negotiations. But the response from the West last January was Whatsapp Mobile Number List surprising to Putin. He perceives the West as a society of degenerates who continue to preach human rights and are unprepared for real conflict. They are always the first to retreat before being challenged. But in recent weeks the tone has changed in the West, first in the United States, then in the United Kingdom, and then in many other countries.