Russia is paying an ever increasing price for the Ukraine war
Created: 05/19/2022, 16:07
From: Julius Fastnacht
In the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia is currently recording sensitive defeats - not only military, but also diplomatic and economic.
Moscow – The twelfth week of war in Ukraine is now coming to an end.
In Moscow, however, there can be no question of a resounding success of the “special military operation”, as Vladimir Putin calls the invasion of the neighboring country.
The aggressor has to put up with setbacks on various levels, the consequences of which are sometimes long-term.
Most recently, Russian forces withdrew from Kharkiv.
A loss of prestige, given that the eastern Ukrainian city is the second largest in the country.
The Arab news channel Al Jazeera reports that Moscow's troops in the area have been pushed back to their own borders.
Ukraine War: Russia suffers military setbacks
According to the portal, after defeats in the east, Russia has put the plan to encircle the Ukrainian army in the region on hold for the time being.
Instead, it wants to focus on fighting in the Luhansk region in the southeast.
A destroyed tank and ammunition lie on a hill near Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine - Russian forces are withdrawing from here.
© Carol Guzy/dpa/ZUMA Press Wire
The lack of personnel in the Russian armed forces is striking.
According to the Ukrainian secret service, Moscow is therefore beginning a covert mobilization that uses reservists.
In addition, a number of top commanders have been relieved of their posts because of poor performance.
And the equipment also seems to be a problem.
US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo reported in Congress, citing information from Ukraine, that Russian tanks are dependent on microelectronics from refrigerators and dishwashers due to a lack of chips.
Gazprom Germania is affected by the sanctions of the former parent company Gazprom.
© Fernando Gutierrez-Juarez/dpa
Russia limits gas exports and damages its own foreign trade
Meanwhile, the country's oil and gas exports play a central role in Russia's foreign trade - the war has had fatal effects on them.
According to Al Jazeera, Ukraine reduced Russian gas flow to Europe for the first time last week.
One of two central pipelines turned back the raw material transport by a quarter.
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The Kremlin even took measures to restrict gas exports last week.
On May 12, the monopoly Gazprom banned gas transport through all European pipelines in which it owns shares.
Affected are the Polish pipeline owner EuRoPol Gaz, Gazprom Germania and 29 Gazprom Germania subsidiaries throughout Europe.
Gas prices in the European Union shot up 22 percent after the measures.
Ukraine war: Russia has to accept NATO expansion
The most recent Finnish and Swedish plans to join NATO appear to be particularly humiliating for Putin.
As Al Jazeera writes, the expansion of the defense alliance was one of the justifications for the invasion of Ukraine - now it is progressing precisely because the Kremlin ruler has chosen aggressive war.
Russia's chief diplomat Sergey Lavrov commented on the initiative from Helsinki and Stockholm with a view to the United States: “The 'rules-based order' provides for neither democracy nor pluralism, not even within the 'collective West'.
The recent development is the "revival of hard bloc discipline and the unconditional submission of the 'allies' to Washington's dictates."
While ex-President Dmitry Medvedev said in April that Russia wanted to station nuclear weapons in the Baltic Sea if Finland and Sweden dared to make a NATO contribution, Putin had to adopt a much milder tone just a month later.
"As for enlargement, Russia has no problem with these states - none," he said on May 16.
"In this sense, there is no immediate danger for Russia from an expansion [of NATO] to include these countries." (juf)
