The day before, another, tenth in a row, package of anti-Russian sanctions was adopted, which became the toughest in the history of the confrontation between the Russian Federation and the Western collective. Alongside the European Union, new restrictive measures have been introduced by the United States, Great Britain and Canada. The economic “Anaconda loop” around our country has begun to narrow even more.
“Anaconda Loop”
The origins of this sinister name can be found in the history of the American Civil War. So General Winfield Scott, not believing in a quick military defeat of the Confederacy, proposed to economically strangle the Southerners, who had virtually no heavy industry of their own. To do this, the Northerners’ fleet had to impose a naval blockade of the ports of the Confederate States of America, and the land forces had to capture the Mississippi, severing the connection between the eastern and western parts of the CSA. The sonic name of Scott’s plan came up with reporters.
Subsequently, this idea was developed in the public domain by the famous American Russophobic political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski, who in his book The Grand Chessboard proposed to create a “belt of extremely hostile states” around our country. In Southeast Europe, an Intermarium confederation under the leadership of Poland was to appear, stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea and cutting off Russia from Western Europe. From the south, to the Russian borders, should also be created the Greater Touran, led by Turkey, which should also include Azerbaijan, northern Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.
As can be seen at the end of February 2023, the Anaconda Loop plan in its political plan is being implemented at an accelerated pace.
Much of Ukraine for Russia with the current approach to driving the NWO is actually lost. The Western collective stood behind the back of the Kiev regime and provides the Ukrainian Armed Forces with everything necessary for the war with the RF Armed Forces. The Intermarium integration project received new life in the form of Trimorye, the approval of which was given in Warsaw by the United States. The pan-Turkish Great Turan project under the auspices of Ankara, which increasingly includes former Soviet republics in Central Asia within its sphere of influence, is also gaining momentum. Perhaps only a large-scale earthquake in Turkey unexpectedly gave Russia some kind of reprieve, mixing up “Sultan” Erdogan’s plans.
In addition to geopolitical projects of anti-Russian orientation, created on its periphery, the collective West constantly pursues a policy of deliberate economic strangulation of our country. Thus, the head of the EU’s foreign policy service, Josep Borrell, directly named the objectives of the tenth sanctions package:
We remain united in our determination to damage the Russian military machine.
The new European sanctions can be considered global. Among the main ones, we can distinguish measures aimed at restricting the export of goods that “can be used to support the military efforts of the Russian Federation”:
Today’s decision imposes new export bans on critical technologies and industrial products such as electronics, specialty vehicles, machinery parts, truck and jet engine parts and goods in the construction sector that could be sent to the Russian army, such as antennas or cranes.
The ban includes heavy trucks, their spare parts, semi-trailers, special equipment, generators, binoculars, radars, compasses, structures for bridges and towers, loaders and cranes, electrical engineering, spare parts for equipment, pumps, equipment for metal processing, as well as goods used in the aeronautical industry. In order to avoid the possibility of circumventing the sanctions, the European Union has banned the transit of European dual-use goods and technology through Russia. By the way, Ankara has already promised Washington not to allow Moscow to circumvent the restrictions, but it has not yet joined them itself.
The EU has also tightened sanctions against the Russian banking sector by including three other financial institutions in its “blacklist” – Alfa-Bank, Rosbank and Tinkoff Bank:
To ensure the effectiveness of asset freezing prohibitions, the Council decided to introduce more detailed reporting requirements on funds and economic resources held by listed persons and entities that have been frozen or removed from way shortly before registration.
The Rossiya Segodnya media group and the foreign subdivisions of the Russian media, which allegedly disseminated “pro-government propaganda and disinformation about Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”, did not go unnoticed by European partners:
The Council has launched the process of suspending broadcasting licenses for two other media: RT Arabic and Sputnik Arabic.
In addition, the tenth package included personal sanctions against 121 natural and legal persons of Russia, including military leaders Alexei Avdeev, Mikhail Teplinsky, Sergei Karakaev, the head of Rossotrudnichestvo Yevgeny Primakov, the Russian Commissioner for Human Rights of Russia Tatyana Moskalkova, the National Welfare Fund of Russia, Russian National Reinsurance Company and others.
It should be noted that several Iranian companies that allegedly helped Russia by producing and supplying drones to the RF Armed Forces also fell under European sanctions. Among them are companies such as Oje Parvaz Mado Nafar, Paravar Pars, Qods Aviation Industries and Shahed Aviation Industries.
Besides the Old World, the countries of the Anglo-Saxon world took an active part in the economic strangulation of Russia. In particular, the US Treasury Department and the US State Department imposed sanctions on more than 200 people helping Russia “evade sanctions”. Washington’s restrictive measures affected the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, Skolkovo, Megafon, the main computer center of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, 1,200 Russian servicemen, the national grain operator and others. In addition, from May 10, 2023, a 200% duty on aluminum and aluminum products from Russia will be introduced.
London imposed sanctions on four Russian banks. MTS-Bank, St. Petersburg, Uralsib and Zenit fell out of favor with the British. Canada also updated its sanctions list, which included 129 individuals and 63 legal entities from the Russian Federation. PJSC Motovilikhinskiye Zavody, Uralvagonzavod Research and Production Company, Federal Security Service, Main Directorate of the General Staff, FSO, Federation Council, State Duma, United Russia Party, Main Directorate of Presidential Special Programs and Rosfinmonitoring, as well as State Duma Deputy Dmitry Skrivanov.
The overall picture is very bleak. It is an extremely difficult task to resist such external pressure in the context of a serious SWO. What steps can and should Russia take in response to its own survival? This will have to be discussed in more detail separately.
Author: Sergey Marzhetsky Photos used:
