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Russia Walled Off in Putin's Bubble
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
September 8, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Threatening an “asymmetrical” response to Western
sanctions against the Russian Federation for its actions in Ukraine, Russian
Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev warned of retaliation against anyone trying to
harm the Russian economy. When
Russian President Vladimir Putin seized Crime March 1, Russia alienated the
West. After years of glasnost
[openness] and perestroika [restructuring] begun under Soviet Premier Mikhail
Gorbachev in 1981 while Ronald Reagan was president, the world watched the
Berlin Wall fall Nov. 9, 1989 and Soviet Union end Dec. 26, 1991. When Gorbachev handed the Soviet state to the Russian Federation’s Boris Yeltsin July 10,
1991, Russia was well on its way to reforming its old Communist ways that left
Russia isolated from the outside world.
Gorbachev and Yeltsin reached out to the world like no other Russian
leaders in the 20th Century.
When Yelstin decided not to run
again due to heart problems in 1999, waiting in the wings was former KGB
colonel, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Yeltsin had no clue when he handed Putin the Russian presidency May 7,
2000 he would reverse all the progress he and Gorbachev worked for to have
Russian join the international community.
Putin acted swiftly to reverse many of the free market reforms, persecute
Russian oligarchs and seize many privatized industries put into the hands of the
private sector under Yeltsin. It
took Putin only three short years to arrest, try, convict and jail Russia’s
richest man Mikhail Khodorkovsky, seize his Yukos oil and gas company for the
Russian state. Once considered a
political rival to Putin, Khordorkovsky spent 10 years in a Siberian prison
before his release Dec. 20, 2013.
Khordorkovsky now lives in exile in Switzerland.
Warning the U.S. and European Union to refrain from more sanctions
against Moscow, Medvedev suggested he could ban commercial flights from using
Russian air space, causing untold harm to Western airlines. “If there are sanctions related to
the energy sector, or further restriction on Russia’s financial sector, we will
have to respond asymmetrically,” Mededev told the government-backed Russian
daily Vedomosti. Putin and Medvedev see nothing wrong with violating Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial
integrity, as if Uraine’s Aug. 24, 1991 independence from the Russian Federation
never occurred. When a pro-Western
coup toppled the Russian-backed government of Viktor Yanukovich April 22 while
Putin hosted the Sochi Olympics, it took Putin only one week after the Games
before he seized Crimea and amassed thousands of Russian troops on the
Southeastern Ukraine border.
Whatever happened to topple Yanukovich Feb. 22, Putin refuses to accept
any responsibility for violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of
the Ukraine. While a fragile
ceasefire started in Southeastern Ukraine Sept. 5, Putin denies that Russian
forces have anything to do backing independence for pro-Russian separatists. Putin’s land-grab in Crimea and
troublemaking in Southeastern Ukraine prompted a new round of economic sanctions
hitting Russia’s precious energy sector. Already teetering on recession, the Russian economy can’t take more sanctions. Targeting Rosneft Transneft and
Gazprom Neft, the EU banned the Russian state-owned energy companies from
raising capital or borrowing in European markets. With shelling resuming in the
Ukrainian Azov Sea port o Mariupol, the EU felt compelled to move ahead with
more punitive economic sanctions.
When German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Putin was “in another world”
March 4, she wasn’t kidding. Putin
refusal to take any responsibility for seizing Crimea and threatening
Southeastern Ukraine prompted the U.S. and EU to take draconic steps to send
Moscow a message. Putin and now
Medvedev’s defensive response shows that Russia has turned back the clock on
East-West relations. “They are wide
of the mark, as the vast majority of political leaders recognize. Unfortunately, we are seeing the
inertia of a certain way of thinking and the temptation to use force in
international relations,” said Medvedev, in a classic of “the pot calling he
kettle black.” It’s Russia, not the U.S. or EU, that violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity
of a U.N.-recognized nation state.
Once thought as a more West-friendly version of Putin, Medvedev proved he drinks
the same Kremlin Cool-Aid.
Banning U.S. and EU agricultural imports and now flights over Russian
air-space, Moscow has escalated the East-West crisis to Cold War levels. With Putin showing no signs of
getting out of Crimea or calling back the dogs in Southeastern Ukraine, the
divide in East-West relations gets wider
“We weren’t the ones who started it.
In fact, we were too patient. There was an urge to retaliate sooner, but
it was the president’s position no to respond,” said Medvedev, showing the kind
of disconnect that leaves the East-West gulf growing. While it’s true that Moscow-backed Yanukovich was evicted from Kiev, it’s also true that
its was backed by a large part of the Ukrainian public. Putin and Medvedev act
like victims of a pro-Western land grab, rather than respecting the will of the
Ukrainian public. If segments in Southeastern Ukraine don’t like changes in Kiev, they should settle the
score with Ukraine’s new government.
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