How Will We Respond to the Challenge?

The U.S. government has announced that it will continue to impose sanctions against Russia.

Sergey Markov, director of the Institute for Political Studies and a member of the Civic Chamber.

There’s no point in paying attention to the reason for the imposition of the new restrictions. It could be absolutely any reason, even the most absurd, meddling in the election in Burkina Faso or violating the rights of blacks in Kentucky. There’s no problem in the world that Washington’s politicians couldn’t now attribute to Moscow’s machinations.

Sanctions are merely part of an overall strategy of increasing pressure on Russia, a strategy that will continue until our country recognizes the United States’ leading role in the world. Within the framework of this strategy, Western politicians accuse us of doping, call for a boycott of athletic competitions and continue across-the-board diplomatic pressure. At the same time, the West raises questions: “How will you develop if you don’t have your own technology or money, if your elite actively buys real estate abroad and if the children of your officials live and study with us?” American politicians are confident that, having come face to face with these issues, Moscow will sooner or later be forced to recognize U.S. domination. The West’s ultimate goal is to bring a docile regime to power in our country, as was the case in the 1990s. Hence, Russia now has no other path forward than to find an answer to the challenges it faces. We can respond to them only by developing our science and technology, creating a self-sufficient economy and breaking the “oil curse.” Now it’s not a matter of national prestige or geopolitics: It’s a matter of survival.