How isolated Putin’s Russia is

Two months have passed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. US President Joe Biden claims that the aggression has left Moscow more isolated than ever before.

But the question of whether Russia has seceded in line with the expectations of Ukraine’s allies has been explored by the AFP news agency.

Russian forces launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24 at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Today marks the 70th day of the Russian military operation in Ukraine. During this time, Ukraine’s allies have imposed a series of sanctions to isolate Russia from the world.

During the two-month war, Kiev’s allies, including Washington, did their best to keep Moscow at bay. But a section of the international community has been reluctant to do so.

Sylvie Matteli, deputy director of the French Institute for International Relations and Strategic Affairs, said it was clear Russia was isolated from the Western bloc. Moscow has been isolated, especially by Western sanctions. The sanctions complicate Moscow’s trade and financial exchanges.

However, the French researcher thinks that the situation of isolating Russia outside the western arena is quite different. In this context, Mattelli said that some countries are very careful about going against Russia. These countries have been refusing to bow to Western pressure to take a stand against Russia.

The West has been threatening Moscow since before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Europe and North America reacted sharply after the aggression began. They declare Moscow isolated from the world. Promises to impose unprecedented sanctions on Moscow

In the weeks that followed, a series of Western sanctions were imposed on Russia. Many European countries have closed their airspace to Russian aircraft. The United States has banned the import of Russian oil and gas.

As part of the sanctions, some Russian banks were excluded from the Swift International Payment System. Many Russians, including Putin, have been banned.
However, there has been a cautious response from outside the West to Russia.

For example, on March 2, India and South Africa abstained from voting in the UN General Assembly on a proposal to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine.

Brazil and Mexico have again refused to impose sanctions on Russia.
The Washington Post quotes Chris Landsberg, a professor of international relations at the University of Johannesburg, as saying that the number of countries in the world that want closer cooperation with the West is increasing, but they are still raising the issue of Russia’s independence.

George Hain, Chile’s former ambassador to India and South Africa, said it was one thing to condemn the Ukraine attack and another thing to start an economic war against Russia. Many countries in South America, Africa and Asia are not ready to cross this line.

“These countries do not want to take a position that goes against their interests,” he said.

This trend is seen in the case of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The two countries have so far avoided taking a stand against Russia.

The same can be said of India. The country abstained from voting in the UN Security Council last February to condemn Russia’s aggression.

Shivshankar Menon, national security adviser to former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said the war had created a difficult and unwelcome situation for India. India is doing everything possible to avoid choosing between the Western bloc and Russia.

Menon recently asked, “The Fantasy of the Free World: Are Democracies Really United Against Russia?” Wrote an essay titled. In this article, he mentions that the United States is an essential partner in the modernization of India. But Russia remains an important partner of India for geopolitical and military reasons.

Michel Duclos, a former French ambassador, said the trend was not new. India or Brazil were not with the West during the 2015 Syrian crisis and the first Ukrainian crisis.

“We have to ask ourselves, ‘Why did this happen?’ What can we do to build stronger bridges with these countries? And this question is more relevant now than before.

Western powers are working hard to keep Russia at bay. But the results of these efforts are limited.

An example is the G20 alliance. The alliance called for the exclusion of Moscow. But in the end it did not succeed.

The West is failing to convince countries that are hesitant to go against Russia.

Judy Dempsey, an analyst at Carnegie Europe think tank, says Western sanctions against Russia are tough. But that has not stopped Putin.

It may take longer to see the full impact of Western sanctions on Russia. In this context, Russian financial analyst Alexei Vedev said that the state of the Russian economy will become clearer in June or July. Because now the Russian economy is relying on its reserves. Reserves are declining. But as long as there are reserves, the sanctions will not be fully realized.