Well, perhaps now we can state quite boldly: the Western blitzkrieg in the economic war declared on Russia, at least in the energy sector, definitely did not take place.
And the most realistic (albeit still hostile to our country) part of the Western world already recognizes this.
Just as an example.
As follows from the explanation of the European Commission, published at the end of last week on its official website, European companies can still transfer payments for Russian gas in euros and dollars to a Russian bank for subsequent conversion into rubles.
This rather simple, albeit sly act for Europe will mean that they sort of pay in dollars and euros.
And, accordingly, they formally do not violate the restrictions imposed against Russia by the European Union at all: the funny thing is that no one has spoken about this to the European Commission in recent weeks.
Including Russian President Putin.
Which, by the way, approved not so long ago exactly the kind that the EC now considers quite acceptable and legitimate, the payment procedure.
Having done this, by the way, to the indignant cries of those same authorities in Brussels, Berlin, Paris, Vienna.
And other European and for some reason partly not even European capitals.
Some of them - from those that are smaller, poorer and therefore more insolent - even declared that they did not know what the ruble was at all.
And they don't want to know him in the future either.
A funny picture in the end, as you can see, turned out to be impossible to take away: now, in order to make payments according to the “Putin scheme”, the domestic “Gazprombank”, chosen by the Russian authorities to implement the proposed scheme, even completely lost its banks in the fight against everything, is getting out of sanctions Russian UK.
That after Johnson's escapade in India, of course, looks especially funny.
What I would like to say right away, however, is that, of course, the document issued in Brussels regulating the possible procedure for paying for gas in rubles is not at all an act of capitulation of the conditionally hostile West to the Russian economic power.
No matter how some domestic officials who are already reporting on victories, this would not be desirable.
The Western elites do not change either their openly anti-Russian positions or the political, economic and social technologies used against us for decades.
And they do not stop economic hostilities against our country.
For example, there is no doubt that the same "sanction packages" from Brussels and Washington will follow one after another and further.
Although forced to become, shall we say, much less specific.
The main change here is only in one thing: just through the media noise about the outstanding information victories of the brilliant and self-confident "virtual West", a boring and not entirely romantic economic reality suddenly peeped through.
The same one - with industry, logistics and technological chains and energy intensity of production.
After that, it just became clear that a brilliantly conceived blitzkrieg - with sanctions, including the arrest (more precisely, freezing for now) of the foreign exchange reserves of the domestic Central Bank, as well as yachts and accounts of Russian businessmen, and with a subsequent mass exodus (also, however, more part purely informational and, if you like, virtual) of Western companies and brands from the Russian market, somehow went not quite the way it was strategically planned.
The Russians, of course, did not wince very pleased, looking at how the “Western partners” freeze the property of their own comprador elite, which they do not much love, for the purpose of further “deriban”.
And also the "foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank" lying in Western banks as a senseless load for the Russian economy.
But they didn’t become very sad and worried about this.
Accordingly, the expected effect of the repeatedly announced "oligarchic riots" has disappeared - according to Yanukovych, it turned out in Ukraine!
- simply obliged to blow up the social situation in the country.
This, by and large, brings little sadness not only to Russian society, but even to the Kremlin.
But the prospect of a collapse of at least European industry, moreover, in the shortest and most concretely announced terms - we are talking about months, and sometimes even weeks - because of its artificial separation from the natural, natural resource base, turned out to be not at all illusory.
Therefore, as they say, they figured out what was there and how, and turned on the reverse speed.
And nothing more.
And that's just not necessary, we repeat, illusions: the economic war in this particular case is by no means over.
And she didn't even stop.
It just moved, as sometimes happens not only in the economy, but also in a real hot phase, to its new, positional, if you like, stage.
And all this concerns not only Europe at all, and it is also somehow rather stupid not to understand.
And here, too, you do not even need to invent anything.
It is enough just to quote a very authoritative (here, except for jokes, this lady really knows her business rather poorly, and, unlike her boss, she does not hug rabbits and therefore enjoys well-deserved respect in serious financial circles) specialist from across the ocean, the minister US Treasury Janet Yellen.
Declaring late last week at an official ministerial press conference that the rejection of Russian oil products, we quote, “will increase world oil prices, have a devastating effect on Europe and other parts of the world and, contrary to common sense, may actually have very little negative influence on Russia, because although Russia will export less, export earnings will increase” (c).
And now just change the word "oil" to the word "gas", multiply by about ten, and you will quite easily understand why the Russian leadership was so initially sure that the Europeans, having shouted properly, proposed a rather humane scheme for converting them into rubles will be accepted when paying for gas.
Unless they're crazy, of course.
And if they are crazy, then why do we need them, excuse me, even just as buyers?
Rhetorical, excuse me, question.
I’ll say more: taking into account what anecdotal conditions are being discussed right now in the EU on “restrictions on oil trade” with our country, one can be almost sure that immediately after the first stage of the “energy raw materials for rubles” scheme has been tested in practice, following gas, the same or similar scheme of mutual settlements with unfriendly countries will be offered for oil settlements.
With some nuances, of course – just like now, after Putin signed the relevant law, the LNG market is being reformatted – here, of course, one cannot scratch everyone with the same brush.
But some changes in the formats of settlements in trade with other strategic raw materials, such as, for example, uranium, nickel, titanium, etc., and up to grain, in the context of the impending food crisis, which is also a strategic commodity, are also quite straightforward. are now being viewed.
But at the same time, it is not necessary to cheerfully report on the successes and victories of anyone: this defeat is always an orphan.
And something positive always has a surplus of parents.
No, what is happening is simply what is called the natural course of events.
On what, as we understand, the initial calculation was based.
There are other problems here.
Positional war - both in the economy and in the hot phase - is not a very fast thing, rather boring and unemotional.
Requiring more cold calculation than impulse, heroism and inspiration.
And for all the parties involved in it, it is very, very costly.
And yes, here, when the confrontation moves into the sphere of the real economy, where flashing indices on exchange computers are of little importance, and resources and their availability become decisive factors, we obviously have a certain situational advantage.
But the burden of prolonged trench warfare is a heavy burden.
No, we will stand it, of course, and we did not stand it like that.
In addition, the “rapid catastrophe”, for which the West has been preparing us for information lately, already, it seems, is beginning to be gradually canceled by the West itself.
But no easy walk is foreseen for any of the parties in the short-term historical perspective.
And this is definitely quite stupid and extremely naive not to understand.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.