New US sanctions against Moscow, a war within Russia

Economic changes due to sanctions strengthen opposition. Sanctions have become the theme of the Aleksej Naval'nyj campaign. Vedomosti newspaper: In the struggle against "the outer enemy" Russia has been able to punish itself. Grigory Javlinskij: Putin's foreign policy a total fiasco.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The new economic sanctions against Russia approved on August 2 by Donald Trump are likely to have consequences that will last for decades in the relationship between the two countries. The sanctions affect Moscow's energy sector in particular, and aim to punish it for alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election (which saw Hillary Clinton's defeat) and the Crimea invasion.

Trump was forced to sign the controversial sanctions (which he termed imperfect"), on the back of a united Congress.

Well before the ink was dry on Trump's signature, Russia had decided to retaliate, expelling 755 US diplomats. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev defined new US sanctions as a "all out commercial war" against Moscow. The following article explores the internal implications of the sanctions.

Following the approval by the US Congress of the ninth package of sanctions against Russia, along with the other "rogue states" of Iran and Korea, Russian society is questioning the efficacy and effectiveness of nationalist radicalism, which is pushing the country into an increasingly worrying isolation.

The "Cold War 2.0" has taken on the contours of an anti-globalization regurgitation, which suggests aggressive and protective politics everywhere. Russia, which had refused globalization from the outset in the name of a plurality of identities, is curiously paying the highest price for all the ongoing changes, instead of benefiting from the dividends of those who actually follow the example Moscow set.

The last round of the "war of sanctions" is leaving its mark on Russian public opinion, which no longer unanimously defends national pride. The destructive potential of these sanctions could in fact be of irreversible damage to Russia, forcing it to finally submit to the economic and military superpowers of America, China and even Europe.

The loud Russian response, which reduced the staff of the US Embassy by two-thirds (from 1200 to 455 people), exemplifies the impotence of Putin's government. Of the 755 employees "expelled" from US diplomatic staff, in fact, most are Russian citizens serving the Americans, especially in consular offices. The main effect of the counter-sanction thus translates into the virtual impossibility for Russian citizens to receive an entry visa in the United States, given the closure of offices now lacking in staff in the various cities where they operate. Perhaps this was the desired effect for the Russian authorities. Just days ago even the orthodox metropolitan Ilarion (Alfeev), the greatest ecclesiastical diplomat, had suggested "not to send his children to study abroad". Even in Soviet times, such drastic measures against diplomatic bureaucracy were not taken.

In the regard, the Vedomosti newspaper wrote that "in fighting the 'outside enemy', Russia has succeeded in further punishing itself, by prohibiting foreigners from adopting Russian orphans, banning Russians from eating Turkish tomatoes, and today from traveling abroad. " In fact, the Russian population, more than American and European sanctions, is suffering, with stores emptied of French cheeses and Italian hams. Strangely, the only product still not subject to any particular limitations is wine.

What is most worrying is the statement by one of Putin's main "strong men" Fedor Lukjanov, of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, that Russia will now not be confined to counter-sanctions, but will take autonomous measures to counter Western economic activities in the country. If in his first steps as US President, Trump had hoped for a stand-alone position over Congress against Russia, now the Russians seem determined for open war against the "Trumpian" America as well.

The opposition gains strength

For the internal opposition, the turning point seems to suggest a policy of "the worse, the better." The blogger Alexei Navalnyy, leader of the unofficial "Progress Party", is stepping up his campaign to appear in the 2018 presidential election, collecting fines and arrests for breaches of the rules of public gatherings which are doing nothing other than boosting his popularity index. Naval'nyj's main argument is by no means the rules of the democratic game, but the economic changes due largely to sanctions. The aggravation of the crisis leads to the dramatization of social conflict, of which the primary Russian dissident wants to become the absolute protagonist.

The leader of the liberal rightist parliamentary opposition, Grigorij Javlinskij, speaks rather of "the complete fiasco of Putin's foreign policy: totally unjustified ambitions, misunderstanding of the current political balance in the world, inability to defend the interests of his country, lack of professionalism, problem-solving, looking only to the past, imperial vellitalism, and real aggressions towards weaker neighbors, they style of a school yard bully, unremitting lies and adventurism ... all of this has led our country to the limit of complete isolation".

Javlinskij, the founder of the Liberal Yabloko party in the 1990s, is calling for an international conference with all the countries concerned to jointly establish the conditions of international law regarding Crimea, the conflict in Ukraine and the situation in Syria, and end the armed conflicts and the war of sanctions.

Even the founder of "Open Russia", exiled dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is convinced that Russia should avoid escalating the conflict with the West. In his view, America and Europe are already preparing a breakdown of the world with China, to which Russia has paid no attention, and "technological" sanctions will force "a country of 140 million people to stay in the 21st century 20 years behind everyone else. "

Resignation and anger in the Russian population is parallel to the pessimism of the opposition, and the impotence of the regime. At the same time, the "Russiaphobia" of the western establishment and the irrational "russophilia" of anti-establishment movements in the same countries grow, leading the situation towards a great globalized quagmire. Yet Russia would have so much to say and give, and the West would have a lot to take, from a great country that has always been a little lost within its boundless spaces.

• United states of america
• economy
• sanctions
• energy
• crimea
• ukraine
• vladimir putin
• alexei navalny