“There is a lot of arrogance in the West”: how the US continues to increase sanctions pressure on Russia

The new sanctions against Russians and companies from Russia, imposed by the American leadership, are a testament to the desperation of the United States.

This statement was made by the Russian Embassy in Washington in the official Telegram channel.

“Due to the apparent far-fetchedness and groundlessness of the accusations, the sanctions are becoming more and more absurd and testify to Washington’s desperation from the inability to bend our country to its will,” the message says.

The diplomatic mission of the Russian Federation noted that the wording that was used to indicate the reasons for the expansion of restrictions resembled a “hodgepodge” of the little that they

can still afford here (in the USA. -

However, as Russian diplomats stressed, no sanctions pressure will change "the goals and objectives of the special military operation in Ukraine", which "will be fulfilled in any case."

“It’s time to understand that we cannot be intimidated by restrictions ... Local ruling circles should pay attention that instead of the shocks they expect in our country, anti-Russian measures will harm the United States itself,” the Russian embassy said.

Recall that on April 20, the US Treasury Department announced the introduction of new sanctions against a number of individuals and enterprises in Russia.

New names added to the sanctions list, allegedly due to attempts to circumvent Washington's restrictions against Moscow.

Thus, restrictions are imposed on Transcapitalbank (TKB), as well as the Investtorgbank associated with it.

Washington is confident that TKB allegedly offered Asian and Middle Eastern banks options to circumvent international sanctions, in particular, by using its own interbank information transfer system TKB Business, which is an alternative to SWIFT.

Thus, TKB allegedly hid the transactions of its clients, including those who are under restrictions, according to the United States.

Sanctions have also been imposed on data center operator Bitriver and ten of its Russian-based subsidiaries that mine cryptocurrencies.

According to the US, the Russian virtual currency mining industry is the third largest in the world.

The blacklist also includes organizations allegedly associated with businessman Konstantin Malofeev, who has been under sanctions since 2014 for supporting the protest movement in the Donbass and Crimea.

Among these organizations is the Tsargrad media group, which the US Treasury Department calls Malofeev's "fundamental element of a wide network of pernicious influence" and a conductor of Kremlin propaganda. 

New sanctions have also been imposed on 16 people associated, according to the US administration, with the Russian bank Otkritie, which was previously disconnected from SWIFT by the European Union.

"The Treasury Department can and will prosecute those who circumvent, attempt, or help circumvent U.S. sanctions against Russia," U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury for Counterterrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement on the U.S. agency's website.

Not without visa restrictions, under which 635 Russian citizens fell.

All of them, according to Washington, "are involved in the suppression of dissent in Russia and abroad ... activities that threaten the territorial integrity of Ukraine ... violation of human rights in prisons and unofficial places of detention."

Absurd restrictions

On April 21, Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a video address to the participants of the Asian Economic Forum, which is being held in Boao on the Chinese island of Hainan, declared the inadmissibility of unilateral sanctions, the policy of double standards, bloc thinking and the Cold War mentality.

“All countries of the world are connected by a common destiny, we are in the same boat.

If you want to sail towards a brighter future ... (necessary. -

) be together.

Trying to force someone out is unacceptable and unacceptable.

Today's world is a well-designed and organically built machine.

An attempt to remove any part from it is fraught with a critical failure and dire consequences, not only for the machine itself, but also for those who dare to do it, ”said the Chinese leader.

• Chinese President Xi Jinping

• AP

• © Ng Han Guan

According to him, it is necessary to pay due attention to the rational concerns of each country regarding security guarantees and not to build their security at the expense of others, but to resolve all interstate disagreements through dialogue and negotiations.

On the eve of the absurdity of anti-Russian restrictions, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro also announced on the air of the Venezolana de Televisión TV channel.

He expressed confidence that the effects of the current restrictions "will persist over time and that more sanctions will generate more negative effects."

“The US and Western sanctions directed against Russia have created a boomerang effect against the peoples of the West, the United States and the world ... These sanctions are absurd.

But there is a lot of arrogance in the West,” the head of Venezuela said.

He also stressed that the very concept of sanctions demonstrated to the whole world that the economy is not free from politics.

“International banks, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund are in the service of politics, ideology, the struggle for power of those who rule in the US and Europe and who use the dollar to twist the arms of the world,” Maduro said.

In turn, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, in an interview with CNN Turk on April 20, said that Ankara still does not intend to join Western restrictions.

“It is wrong to expect Turkey to impose sanctions against Russia when we play the role of an intermediary.

The West understands why we do not participate in the sanctions against Russia," TASS quoted the head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry as saying.

In addition, according to Cavusoglu, a number of NATO countries want to use the situation in Ukraine to weaken the Russian Federation.

“There was an impression that there are member states in NATO who want the war to continue, to be allowed to continue, and for Russia to become weaker,” the Turkish minister said.

"Cards on the table"

Experts interviewed by RT note that the United States is now trying to go all-in, inventing more and more new sanctions, since the previously introduced restrictions do not have the effect that Washington was counting on.

“Obviously, all American and Western sanctions in general now are due to impotence.

They put all their cards on the table, but that only makes it easier for us.

The masks are off, we know what to expect.

It is easier for us to develop a counter-sanction course.

And we are just starting it, ”said Ambassador Extraordinary, Senator Konstantin Dolgov in an interview with RT.

He noted that the United States is not interested in a diplomatic settlement of relations with Russia, since their goal is to weaken our country as much as possible, using a convenient Ukrainian pretext for this.

“The Americans trampled on diplomacy by expelling our diplomats and destroying international organizations.

They want to undermine the strength of Russia, oppressing its economy and trying to provoke a split in the country.

But this confrontation with Russia is doomed to failure for the West, as the Russian Federation is successfully adapting to new conditions and does not intend to retreat from its goals in Ukraine,” the senator added.

In turn, HSE professor Dmitry Evstafiev expressed the opinion that the latest US sanctions are not so much a gesture of desperation as an attempt to maintain the morale of Europe.

“This is more of a PR move, since the US has already imposed all the sanctions that would be safe for them.

And Europe still has this potential, although they are not so enthusiastic about the need to realize it.

But the Americans really need to prevent the weakening of Europe's sanctions measures, because if it backs down, then the question of the effectiveness of the sanctions policy as a whole will arise, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.

• Capitol

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Pgiam

The analyst compared the sanctions situation to a car of a stopped train.

The United States is rocking this “car”, imitating high political activity, in order to convince the Europeans that supposedly everything is going according to plan, Evstafiev believes.

“Because it is obvious to everyone that the Americans need to push Europe into the sixth sanctions package, which will be adopted immediately after the re-election of Mr. Macron (President of France. -

),” the expert said.

In his opinion, the United States does not slow down the pace of the sanctions, as they need to break Russia "at the middle distance" - until about November, when the new heating season begins and the European economy, and with it the American economy, will begin to fall into a real global economic depression.

“However, Russia has a high margin of safety, and even in the mode of running for medium distances, we can withstand the sanctions pressure.

Changes in US tactics should be expected only if they realize the capabilities of the Russian Federation.

Only then can conversations again return to a dialogue with Moscow, or at least its imitation, ”summed up Evstafiev.