The United States calls on the world community to condemn Moscow for including the former Ukrainian territories in Russia, where referendums were held last week, US President Joe Biden said.

“We will rally the international community both to condemn these steps and to hold Russia accountable,” he said, adding that Washington will continue to support the Kyiv regime in its quest to regain control of the lost territories.

Meanwhile, US congressmen - Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal - came up with a legislative initiative that involves the "punishment" of those states that decide to recognize the results of the referendums held in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as in Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

“The Senate calls on the President of the United States to limit all economic and military assistance and support to any country that recognizes Russian sovereignty over any part of Ukraine,” the resolution says.

The proposal was presented in two formats: as a separate bill and as an amendment to the defense budget for the next fiscal year, which in the United States begins on October 1.

“It's time to choose.

The world is once again faced with a choice.

It is this: if you side with Putin... you will lose all support from the United States.

We will do everything in our power to marginalize you on the world stage,” Graham said at a press conference.

He also emphasized that comprehensive support and assistance to Kyiv allegedly meets the national interests of the United States.

“The way the situation develops in Ukraine will directly affect our national security,” the politician said.

Blumenthal, for his part, said that Moscow is pushing the states that support Ukraine to be more restrained in their actions.

“But it won't work.

Any country that helps and aids Vladimir Putin... must be held accountable for its complicity,” he said. 

According to him, the United States will try to influence states "that do not take the side of international law, the struggle for the freedom and independence of Ukraine."

“I expect that (this measure. -

RT

) will find strong support in the Senate in the same way as the resolution recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, which was co-sponsored by Senator Graham and I and which was adopted unanimously,” the senator added.

Graham and Blumenthal presented the corresponding document in mid-September.

According to the calculations of the senators, this status should deprive the Russian Federation of sovereign immunity from American courts, giving it the opportunity to sue its government.

  • Senators Richard Blumenthal and Lindsey Graham

  • AP

  • © Mariam Zuhaib

The practice of coercion

This is not the first time the United States has made attempts to influence the decisions of other countries regarding their position on the situation in Ukraine.

In particular, by threatening sanctions, Washington is trying to force African countries to follow its agenda.

On April 27, the House of Representatives approved the bill "On Combating Russia's Malicious Actions in Africa."

In it, the State Department is instructed to monitor the steps of Russian representatives on the continent and counteract the spread of their influence.

If “malicious actions” are recorded, Washington intends to “bring to account” Moscow, as well as the governments and officials of African countries cooperating with it, through sanctions.

The European Union is also trying to limit sovereign actions, including those of its member states.

Recently, Brussels has been putting pressure on Hungary, which adheres to its own views on current events and criticizes anti-Russian sanctions, pointing out their destructiveness for the European economy.

Experts believe that it was the departure of the Hungarian authorities from the mainstream policy of Brussels that made the European bureaucrats pay close attention to the state of affairs in the republic.

The result was a report approved by the European Parliament on September 15 on the decline in the level of democracy in Hungary.

It claims that local authorities are allegedly undermining democracy and fundamental rights in the country, turning it into a "hybrid regime of electoral autocracy."

Another state that the EU is forcing to take an unequivocal position in the context of the Ukrainian conflict is Serbia, which claims to join the Commonwealth.

The fact that Belgrade is constantly required to join Western sanctions against the Russian Federation has been said more than once by the head of the republic, Alexander Vučić.

“As I was told, Putin has raised a curtain and now everyone must demonstrate which side of this curtain they want to stay on,” the Serbian president noted.

He also drew attention to the fact that the position of Brussels on Ukraine and the issue of its territorial integrity reduces the desire among the Serbian population to join the EU.

  • Rally in Belgrade in support of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic

  • AP

  • © Darko Vojinovic

Sanctions Spiral

Do not lose hope in the West to influence with the help of sanctions and directly on Russia.

Thus, the European Commission has already prepared proposals on restrictions in connection with the referendums held in the Donbass and in the liberated territories.

This will be the eighth package of restrictions, recalled on September 28 the head of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen.

“We propose to introduce new large-scale bans on the import of Russian products.

This will prevent Russian goods from entering the European market and deprive Russia of additional revenues of €7 billion,” she said.

In addition, the EC proposes to expand the list of goods prohibited for import into the Russian Federation by adding chemical and high-tech products to it.

It is also proposed to ban EU citizens from holding positions in the governing bodies of Russian state-owned companies, so that they would not be able to "benefit from European knowledge and experience."

The United States also introduced a new package of anti-Russian restrictions, which included dozens of individuals and legal entities, as well as a number of foreign companies.

As Vedant Patel, deputy head of the press service of the State Department, noted on September 29 at a briefing, Washington is considering all options for tightening restrictions.

“We will continue to use the various tools and levers at our disposal to hold Russia accountable,” he said.

At the same time, on September 28, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the upper house of the US Congress expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that anti-Russian sanctions do not have the expected effect.

  • Capitol

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © uschools

"A Matter of Survival"

According to political scientist Andrei Suzdaltsev, for the United States, the tactics of threatening and blackmailing countries that disagree with their course have long become a tradition, since with its help Washington has so far secured its hegemon position on the world stage.

“For the US, this is a matter of survival.

The whole system of their power and influence is built on the subordination and imposition of their opinion not only among the countries of the West, but also in the world community.

Until relatively recently, Russia played by American rules, but the need for further development of the country and the urgency of its own interests put it in a confrontation with the United States, which does not like the manifestation of independence, and even with a claim to an equal position with them, ”explained the interlocutor of RT .

He believes that today dozens of countries are watching Russia, and if she manages to defend her position, this will serve as a signal to everyone else, inspiring them to pursue a more independent policy.

“Naturally, the collective West will now do everything possible to maintain its influence in the world and prevent the strengthening of the position of Russia, which is actually destroying the unipolar world.

After all, they consider only themselves to have the right to recognize independence for someone, as in the case of Kosovo,” Suzdaltsev said.

Associate Professor of the Department of Political Science at the Financial University under the Government of Russia Leonid Krutakov also believes that it is vital for the United States to maintain the role of a regulator in the global space.

“The US economy and their state itself can exist only if the function of a global regulator is preserved.

Because the American economy is tied to servicing global trade and financial flows.

If you remove the dollar space, their economy will simply disappear.

Therefore, they are so desperately trying to prevent the weakening of their influence and position, ”the expert explained in a conversation with RT.

When it comes to defending their own interests, the United States is ready for anything, including the use of such non-legal methods as blackmailing countries that do not obey them and threatening them with sanctions, Krutakov emphasized.

“Therefore, in relation to Russia, one should not expect a weakening of the sanctions pressure, although even the United States itself notes the ineffectiveness of these measures.

Today, restrictions for the United States and its allies (present and potential) are a platform for consolidation and an opportunity to present a united front.

And to make this consolidation possible in the future, Russia will be provoked and demonized.

However, we will continue to go our own way, ”the analyst concluded.