As of: February 27, 2024, 7:20 p.m
By: Tadhg Nagel
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In Moscow, the new sanctions are seen as an affront.
Former Russian President Medvedev threatens the West.
He advises the Russians to take action.
Moscow - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has condemned further sanctions imposed against Moscow and announced a tough reaction.
Both US President Joe Biden and the EU states announced new sanctions on Friday (February 23).
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatens the West with new sanctions.
© IMAGO/Ekaterina Shtukina
Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, was Russian head of state between 2008 and 2012.
He reacted angrily to Joe Biden's announcement that he wanted to impose around 500 new sanctions.
According to the US President, on the one hand, these are directed against those who are connected to the imprisonment of the recently deceased Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
On the other hand, they are intended to hit the Russian financial sector, the defense industry and procurement networks and prevent sanctions evasion around the world.
“They will ensure that Putin pays an even higher price for his aggression abroad and his repression at home,” Biden said.
Putin's predecessor criticizes sanctions - measures "against the entire population of Russia"?
For the former Russian president, it is clear that “these bans” are no longer directed “against the authorities or companies in the country,” even if Russia’s “adversary” “likes to claim that,” said Medvedev in a Telegram post on Saturday ( February 24th).
Instead, the measures were directed “against the entire population of Russia.”
As an example, he cites “the ban on the Mir payment system and the restriction of the activities of companies involved in the construction of housing in the country.”
Even if you have “got used to the endless restrictions” and learned to “live with them”, this is unacceptable.
After all, the reason for the sanctions is “obvious”: “The worse it is for the citizens of Russia, the better it is for the Western world.” They want to make the citizens of Russia suffer.
If Medvedev has his way, this should be over now.
The former president continued that we “just have to remember that and take revenge on them wherever we can.”
Russians should take action themselves - with “solutions that violate the interests of the Western world”
Even concrete options for action are offered by Vladimir Putin's predecessor: creating "difficulties in the economy," stoking "public dissatisfaction with the ineffective policies of the Western authorities," and developing and promoting "solutions that harm the interests of the Western world."
This, said Medvedev, should be done “constantly, systematically and as openly as possible.”
He also advises “carrying out other activities on their territory that it is not customary to talk about publicly.”
One must act “in war as in war” so that victory goes to Russia.
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Although U.S. sanctions may spark resentment in Moscow and hit the Russian economy, it is not clear whether they will halt Russia's progress in the Ukraine war.
Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, a liberal think tank in Washington DC, told the US portal
Newsweek
that the US measures are likely to achieve the goal of restricting Russian exports and increasing revenues from energy products achieve.
Is Medvedev's concern justified: How effective are economic coercive measures?
Still, they are “very unlikely to contribute to the strategic goal the administration seeks, namely a Russian defeat in Ukraine,” Logan said.
Economic coercive measures would “as a rule” fail if they “do not meet with widespread approval worldwide and if the target state does not see the costs it would have to pay as worse than if it gave up its goal”.
According to Logan, the Biden administration must first address the elephant in the room - Ukraine's strategic direction and U.S. support for its membership in NATO.
Otherwise, one will have to “counter with tactical measures” that “cannot force Russia to end the war on Ukraine’s terms.”
(tpn)