Difficulties for the kremlin and putin personally are accumulating both inside the country and abroad. The promise of becoming a member of an international club remained a phantom.
🔸 A promise. «We equally understand what our country shouldn’t be. She shouldn’t be in isolation»
🔻 Actually. Due to the full-scale invasion, the leader of the aggressor country found himself in international isolation, and his regime in the kremlin is cracking due to the defeats of the russian Armed Forces on the front lines. Thanks to the «practical efforts» of the president, russia’s membership in the «Group of Eight» was suspended in the past years, the work of the russian delegation in the PACE was suspended, and several packages of international sanctions were introduced against russia.
The greatest international isolation of the russian regime was on March 27, 2014, during the vote in the UN General Assembly on the resolution condemning the russian authorities for the annexation of Crimea. At that time, only 10 countries supported the kremlin, instead of 182 states out of 193 UN members (96% of the world’s population and world GDP). The day after the start of a full-scale war, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which unites 28 countries, mostly with a high level of development, broke off relations with russia for «non-compliance with the principles of a market economy and democracy». In 2014, russia’s negotiations on joining the organization were frozen, and now they have been stopped altogether. In March, russia’s participation in the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, the Danube Commission, the Coordination Council of the WTO Group of Developed Countries, the International Union of Railways, the International Council of Archives and the Council of the Baltic Sea States was terminated. The most significant was probably russia’s expulsion from the Council of Europe after 26 years of membership. In addition, in March technical cooperation with russia was suspended by the International Labor Organization, and the European Organization for Nuclear Research deprived the russian federation of its observer status. In April, the European Commission suspended russia’s participation in several grant research programs – «Horizon 2020», «Horizon Europe» and «Erasmus+». Russia and Belarus were also excluded from the Bologna Process and programs of the European Higher Education Area. Russia’s participation in the Nuclear Energy Agency and the UN World Tourism Organization was terminated, as well as cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Attempts to gain other allies and reliable partners on the world stage also failed. Despite the colossal pressure from russia, lukashenko, putin’s closest friend and ally, didn’t enter his troops into Ukraine. The closest allies from the CSTO clearly demonstrated to putin that they aren’t ready to get involved in the war for his sake. Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan haven’t decided to conduct peacekeeping operations outside their countries, including on the territory of the so-called DNR/LNR. Despite the support received from russia during the January protests, putin didn’t wait for the loyalty of the President of Kazakhstan Tokayev, who refused to publicly recognize the CADR and CALR at the Economic Forum in st. petersburg (PMEF). Having launched his «special operation», putin counted on restraining the expansion of the Alliance to the East through Ukraine. After all, the closest neighbors – neutral Finland and Sweden – integrated into NATO after the war. Turkey has adopted a two-pronged stance towards russia: on the one hand, the country’s authorities help sell stolen Ukrainian grain, and on the other hand, they provide Ukraine with the latest weapons. India and China, seeking to gain their own benefits, have chosen an exclusively consumerist policy for relations with russia. They are happy to buy cheaper oil, but they won’t sell their electronics. When it comes to violating Western sanctions, the authorities and the private sector of these countries are very careful.
Especially painful for putin was October 7, 2022, when he was forced to celebrate his 70th anniversary in total isolation. After all, only North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Nicaraguan President D. Ortega, Belarusian leader o.lukashenko and the head of the Chechen Republic r.kadyrov congratulated the head of the kremlin on his anniversary.
❗️ After the full-scale invasion of russia, putin lost the right to sit at the same table with representatives of the civilized world. Having started a war in Ukraine, he condemned himself to international isolation, and turned the country into an exile state that can only count on its own forces, which are depleting.
To be continued…
