This week in Bavaria, Germany, G-7 leaders reiterated their commitment to "unequivocally support" Ukraine's fight against Russia. They then discussed how to strengthen the military alliance in the face of Vladimir Putin's ongoing aggression at the NATO summit in Madrid.
This promise of the G-7 leaders is certainly not an empty voice. They have made a formal decision on how to impose a ban on Russian gold. They also discussed a way to impose a price cap on fuel prices to limit Russia's export opportunities. A breakthrough came at the beginning of this year's NATO summit. Turkey supports the inclusion of Finland and Sweden in NATO.
Putin's war has entered its fifth month. The Kremlin has so far refused to make any sincere diplomatic efforts to end the war. In this situation, the G-7 and NATO must find effective ways to address the challenges that lie ahead in supporting Kiev in the medium and long term.
The first is that the West must ensure that the strategy it is adopting to defeat Russia is sustainable. Western leaders do not have much time for this. This is because of the negative impact that sanctions have had on the economy and the resulting pressure.
The Kremlin has no way out of the embargo. Putin is delighted to have plunged Russia's economy into "authoritarian" mud to fulfill his neo-imperialist ambitions. He also hopes that Russia will continue to export oil and gas in line with the wishes of the market, based on a free market economy; Again their ruble will remain as an exchangeable currency.Russia is also thinking that they will sell their technology products through a third country. Putin believes that the negative effects of sanctions on Russia on the economy have caused a rift in the West.This belief is now the main weapon of Russian propaganda. Russia claims that the sanctions have hurt the West more than Russia. This is an open lie. Because, in the first four months of 2022, poverty in Russia has increased by 69 percent. This is the effect of the first five weeks of war and sanctions. In contrast, there are very few examples of significant economic and political impact on Western countries.
The idea that sanctions have made the West's economy miserable is widespread. Many are also claiming that the current currency and economic system of the world is coming to an end as the dominance of the dollar decreases as a result of sanctions. Many have declared the end of the 'American Empire'.Although these imaginary predictions have little chance of coming true, the weakness in the policy of imposing sanctions on Russia has caused great financial losses to the West. It will increase in the coming days. Moscow has now voluntarily stopped supplying oil and gas to European countries that have expressed reluctance to pay for oil and gas in rubles. Moscow's revenues have begun to rise again as European trade with Russian banks has opened up, allowing the ruble to be exchanged and used as a currency for selling oil and gas.
Russia's aggression in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia in retaliation have sent oil and gas prices skyrocketing. As a result, the western countries are facing inflation. Germany has decided to introduce gas rationing system next winter. Russia is the world's largest producer and exporter. The war has created a risk of a global fertilizer crisis. This is not only threatening the world's economic supply chain, it is also threatening the livelihoods of farmers. These pressures will continue if the Russian aggression continues. But no new action has been taken against Russia. Russia's proposal to impose a price cap on oil and gas is also under consideration. Leaders at the G-7 summit have failed to take a decision on the issue.Now the West needs to adopt a policy that will curb Russia's economy and weapons. We also need to find ways to increase it. But the most important thing is to build public support for the ban. The Biden administration took some such initiatives. They blamed Vladimir Putin for the rise in inflation and sought to label fuel prices "Putin's inflation". But it did not succeed.
There is no way to ignore this failure. Because, there are many credible reasons that Russia is responsible for the current bad state of the world economy. Russia's aggression in Ukraine is responsible for today's chaotic situation in the world's agricultural markets. Russia has disrupted gas supplies to Europe. The Kremlin has blocked agricultural production and trade in Ukraine.Sanctions on Moscow are not a source of current and future misery for the West. The West must make it clear that as long as the blood of the Ukrainians remains in Russia's hands, Moscow cannot be their acceptable partner.
People's attention in the West is now shifting away from the Ukraine war. Voters are giving more importance to the economic crisis than the humanitarian crisis. This could have an impact on the upcoming elections. The U.S. election has very clearly paved the way for Donald Trump's return. When Trump returns, disunity will return to NATO. He could also lift sanctions on the Kremlin. There are similar threats in Europe. The populist far right or far left can come to power there. That's why it's time to legislate sanctions to win the economic war against Russia.
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