“A cardinal change in the balance of power”: why in Ukraine they started talking about a “U-turn” of the West towards Russia

Recently, Western countries have radically changed their position in Ukraine and “switched to the side of Russia,” which has strengthened its geopolitical position. Such an opinion on the air of the UkrLife Internet channel was expressed by the Director of the Foreign Policy Institute of the Diplomatic Academy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Hryhoriy Perepelitsa.

“There has been a dramatic change in the balance of power in the international environment. A sharp weakening of the West and the strengthening of Russia. And this trend is gaining momentum, ”said Perepelitsa.

According to him, the strengthening of Moscow’s position is partly due to the fact that Russia “filled the vacuum” created against the background of weakening US influence around the world, including the post-Soviet space. Perepelitsa noted that US President Donald Trump is interested in cooperating with Russia, and also recalled that the French leader Emmanuel Macron recently indicated his intention to establish relations with Moscow.

“The West has absolutely, 180 degrees changed its position regarding Ukraine ... Now it is on the side of Russia,” the director of the Foreign Policy Institute added.

In this situation, believes Perepelitsa, Ukraine remains to strengthen its armed forces and move on to "active defense".

It is worth noting that in mid-September, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Vadim Pristayko, expressed the opinion that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Western countries to adhere to anti-Russian sanctions. He spoke about this in an interview with the German edition of Die Welt.

The minister said that the restrictions introduced were “not ideal”, and the “sanctions front” in the West is weakening. He saw the manifestation of this trend, in particular, in the restoration of Russia's powers in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), as well as in discussions of the possible return of Moscow to the G8.

Later, in an interview with European Pravda, he explained his point of view in more detail, stating the “degradation” of anti-Russian sanctions. Pristayko added that in this way, sanctions fall apart as a holistic mechanism.

“The PACE decision, an invitation to the OSCE meeting of representatives of the so-called Crimean organizations - all these are failures, scattering, falling away pieces of a major sanctions mechanism. All this is a degradation of sanctions, ”he said.

“We are worried when they say to us:“ Well then? We’ll reaffirm the sanctions, there’s the last round for another six months. ” We say: “Perhaps, and reaffirm, but ideologically, sanctions are beginning to fall apart,” Pristayko added.

It should be noted that the Ukrainian delegation protested in connection with the return of Russia to PACE and refused to participate in the autumn session of the advisory body, which will be held from September 30 to October 4.

“The above will be a way of Ukraine’s response to the return of the Russian Federation to the PACE session hall without meeting the requirements of the Assembly’s resolutions approved in response to Russian aggression against Ukraine,” the delegation said in a statement.

Relations between Russia and the West

The formal reason for the sharp deterioration in relations between Russia and the West was the situation around Ukraine, where, after the 2014 coup, a civil war broke out. Kiev has repeatedly accused Moscow of allegedly participating in a conflict in the east of the country, but the Russian Federation has consistently emphasized the groundlessness of such rhetoric. Since Russia is not a subject, but a guarantor of the Minsk agreements, the task of which is to resolve the conflict in the Donbass.

Also in the spring of 2014, Crimea and Sevastopol reunited with Russia after a referendum, in which the vast majority of the inhabitants of the peninsula spoke out for joining the Russian Federation. However, despite the open nature of the referendum, the West accused Russia of the annexation of Crimea and introduced restrictions. Moscow in response established counter-sanctions, moving on to the implementation of an import substitution strategy. At the same time, Russia has repeatedly noted at the highest level that speaking the language of sanctions is counterproductive.

“As for sanctions, these actions are counterproductive and meaningless, especially in relation to a country such as Russia,” Vladimir Putin stated in August 2018, commenting on the expansion of restrictive measures by the United States.

Speaking about the role of Ukraine in relations between Russia and the West, HSE professor Alexander Domrin noted that certain political circles initially assigned Kiev a specific role in this scheme.

“Of course, the West never needed Ukraine as such, except as a“ battering ram ”and a“ battle ax ”against Russia ... Only because of this, Ukraine was of interest to the United States,” the expert said.

At the same time, the interlocutor of RT drew attention to the pragmatism with which a number of Western leaders are trying to approach relations with Russia.

“There is France, and no matter how ironic we are with Macron, his pragmatism is in favor of normalizing Russian-French relations. Regarding Trump, from the very beginning of his election campaign, he talked about normalizing relations with Russia, ”said Domrin.

• Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron
• RIA News
• © Alexey Druzhinin

Recall that during a meeting with Putin in August 2019, Macron said that the era of Western hegemony was coming to an end and called for relations with Moscow to be established. According to Domrin, such pragmatism in the ranks of the leadership of the United States and France suggests that there is great potential for normalizing relations between Russia and these countries, but there are also examples of other positions.

“As for many other Western states, the same Baltic states, for example, or Poland, no pragmatism will ever outweigh their Russophobia,” the expert believes.

In turn, the director of the United States Study Fund. Franklin Roosevelt at Moscow State University Yuri Rogulev also expressed the opinion that the West in the situation with Ukraine primarily pursued its own interests.

“In international relations, it is naive to count on the interests of others to be above their own. Of course, the West pursued its interests. He dressed them in the appropriate ideological and political form, but first of all he cherished for his interests and those of the EU, ”the expert noted.

However, now, according to an interlocutor of RT, it came to the point that Western countries have to decide on the need to invest significant funds to continue this "project".

“Spending money was not part of anyone’s plans. Because they initially pursued their interests. Also, the fact remains that they have always supported, and will support Ukraine, as a kind of “counterbalance” or “lever of pressure” on Russia ... In Ukraine, there is simply a reassessment of what is happening, ”the expert concluded.