In a public address this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that any deployment of Western peacekeeping forces to Ukraine would constitute a trigger for Russian military action — even as he insisted Russia harbors no aggressive designs toward Europe. The contradiction at the heart of his message is not accidental: it is a familiar posture in which deterrence and denial are wielded together, narrowing the space for international solutions while deflecting responsibility for the narrowing. At stake is not merely a diplomatic disagreement, but the viability of any framework that would