INTERNATIONAL PRESS REVIEW
Headline: Unsurprisingly, the Western press condemns the Russian invasion
Audio 03:24
View of the city of Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, February 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine on Thursday and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with Russian action would lead to " consequences you have never seen.”
© AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti
Text by: Anne Cantener Follow
4 mins
Advertising
Read more
Like the
New York Times
, which speaks of “
a maneuver of staggering magnitude
[…]
a declaration of war without provocation, on a scale, on a continent and during a century when it was thought that was no longer possible.
»
In Ukraine, the Odessa news site,
Dumskaya
, has opted for practical information.
For example, it relays calls for blood donation or even the message from the mayor of the nearby town of Yuzhnyy, who fears a disaster at the Odessa port plant: "
We have ammonia in our warehouses, I ask therefore to all residents to go to the countryside if possible.
»
Dumaskaya
also publishes an emergency guide.
"
How to prepare with your family and take care of your own home, how to communicate with loved ones in the absence of network and mobile communication, what to do when you hear sirens, and the rules of conduct in a war zone.
»
Sobriety prevails in the Russian media
For their part, most of the titles of the Russian press are content for the moment with factual information.
While Ukrainian newspapers speak of "
aggression
" and "
invasion
", of fighting against "
the enemy
", the Russian daily
Kommersant
just titles "
aggravation in Ukraine
".
On the newspaper's site, there is a transcript of Vladimir Putin's speech and a summary of international reactions, then
Kommersant
soberly reports that, in the current context of the market collapse, the Moscow stock exchange suspended trading this morning.
No additional comments.
Exception on the site of
Novaya Gazeta
, the independent newspaper reports that a hundred deputies published a letter in which they denounce the invasion of Ukraine.
The elected officials of various Russian cities including Moscow and Saint Petersburg condemn what they describe as an attack, "
an unprecedented atrocity which cannot and cannot be justified
".
They ask the Russian population not to participate and not to be silent.
►
To read also: The four months that led to the attack on Ukraine by Russia
Call to China
The BBC or the newspaper
The Australian
take up the words of a British official: “
Asian countries, and in the first place China, must contribute to making Russia a pariah.
For the moment, it has failed since China this morning rejected the term invasion and was content to call on Russia and Ukraine to dialogue to prevent the situation from getting worse.
China Daily
quotes
Foreign Ministry spokesperson on US arms shipments to Ukraine: "
It is irresponsible to add fuel to the fire on the one hand and blame those who fight the fire on the other hand.
»
The effectiveness of the sanctions in question
For now, the sanctions are only coming from Western countries which are expected to further tighten the measures in the coming hours, but Russia could find ways to circumvent them.
The
New York Times
recalls that if the sanctions imposed after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 had had rapid and very serious consequences for the Russian economy, the situation is very different today.
Since then, the cryptocurrency market has exploded and Russia has had plenty of time to prepare for sanctions and therefore to look for ways to circumvent the checkpoints that states rely on.
“
If banks are the eyes and ears of governments, the explosion of digital currencies is blinding them.
In short, "
all that [Russia] needs
, writes the
New York Times
,
is to find ways to trade without touching the dollar
".
This will be all the easier since, still according to the American daily, Moscow is developing its own central bank digital currency.
Russia can also rely on “
hacking techniques such as ransomware [to] steal digital currencies [and] compensate for revenue losses due to sanctions
.”
Moreover, “
new tools developed in Russia can help hide the origin
[of]
transactions.
This would allow companies to trade with Russian entities undetected.
»
►
To read also: What new sanctions against Russia?
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Newspaper
Ukraine
China
Russia
On the same subject
Ukraine aggression: Westerners furious, China "closely monitoring" the situation
French press review
In the spotlight: the war in Ukraine
Aggression of Ukraine: unanimous condemnation of Russia by the French political class