US hurries to crack down on Russia before it gains strength - analyst

MOSCOW, April 28. /ITAR-TASS/. The United States has launched an unprecedented campaign in a bid to isolate Russia on the far-fetched pretext that Moscow fails to comply with the Geneva accord of April 17 on the deescalation of the situation in Ukraine, says Russia’s former deputy foreign minister, Anatoly Adamishin, currently president of the Association of Euro-Atlantic Cooperation.

US President Barack Obama during his current April 23-29 tour of the Asian-Pacific countries, said in the Philippines’ capital Manila that the United States later today would declare new economic sanctions against Russian individuals and companies. He said the new package of sanctions would be in retaliation for Russia’s failure to comply with the international agreement aimed at stemming the crisis in Ukraine.

Obama added that "the United States had mobilized European countries, many of which were sceptical about the introduction of new sanctions against Russia.”

US Vice-President Joe Biden has been pushing ahead with the same policy at negotiations with the leaders of East European countries. In the meantime, NATO has been building up its activity and military presence in the Baltics, in the Black Sea, in Bulgaria, in Romania and in the neighboring countries.

"The crisis in Ukraine has put a stark question in front of the United States, ‘What are today’s Europe and the European Union?’ Until just recently the United States had been pretty certain that Europe was capable of handling its problems independently. That type of situation would suit Washington pretty well, for it would have a free hand in the Asia-Pacific. But the events in Ukraine indicated that Europe is unable to get away with the crisis in a country that is an aspiring member of the EU. It is not accidental that US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland in a tapped telephone conversation with the US ambassador in Kiev made a very insulting remark about the role of the EU in settling the Ukrainian crisis,” Adamishin told ITAR-TASS in an interview.

"Disillusioned about the European Union’s ability to deal with the regional problems the United States has decided to become more active in Europe. We see US naval ships entering the Black Sea and US troops being sent to Poland and the Baltic countries. The Americans have been literally lecturing the leaders of the European states on what policy they should conduct in relation to Ukraine and in relation to Russia in the first place,” Adamishin said.

"As far as Russia is concerned, we are witnesses to a situation in which Washington is reconsidering its attitude toward Moscow. During the first years after the collapse of the USSR, the US leadership treated Russia as a loser in the Cold War, as a junior partner - very condescendingly. Washington had thought that Russia was no longer a rival in the geopolitical space. The attention of the US politicians was riveted to a far more ominous threat, the one coming from China,” Adamishin said.

"But after the abortive reset of relations and the divergence of opinion between Moscow and Washington over the military conflict between Russia and Georgia in August 2008, "the party of hawks” in the United States started asking itself, ‘Isn’t Russia America’s foe again, the way it was during the big confrontation?”

"Crimea’s takeover and the events in Ukraine, which Russia prefers to interpret in its own, independent way, have greatly alarmed the political elite of the United States. Washington has suddenly spotted a hypothetical threat to its interests in Europe coming from Moscow,” the diplomat said.

"Current political activities by President Obama and his entourage, who have been demanding that the Asia-Pacific and EU countries take harsh economic sanctions against Russia, indicate the United States is hurrying to crack down on Russia now, before it gets too strong economically to match G7 countries. The United States will do its utmost to weaken Russia to a degree that would leave it no chance of becoming a worthy rival,” the analyst warns.

"China’s soaring economic and military might is something the Americans are afraid of even more than a stronger Russia. To prevent Russia from growing to be a really strong power posing a threat to the United States, Washington will go to great lengths to undermine its economic positions now, using the events in Ukraine as a pretext for going on the offensive,” Adamishin said.

"Well aware of the ambitions of US politicians, who invariably fight to the bitter end in pressing for their geopolitical goals, it is important to persuade Washington that Russia may be to the United States’ liking or it may be not, but it is certainly not the United States’ enemy. And the European partners are to be convinced that they will merely lose a lot if they agree to follow the United States’ anti-Russian policies," the analyst concluded.

ITAR TASS