On March 17, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev spout out against the U.S. and other Western countries they have deemed a threat to their mission in Ukraine. They claim that other nations are stirring anti-Russian sentiment, and directly claim that they are under the belief that the Russian people are being put in unnecessary danger by U.S. propaganda.
Along with being the former President, Medvedev is currently serving as the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council. He believes this is a tactic being used to bring Russia down to its knees. “It will not work – Russia has the might to put all of our brash enemies in their place.” This statement comes as Russian forces have suffered enormous losses in Ukraine not just at the hand of the Ukrainian military, but their everyday citizens as well.
They aren’t just suffering losses on the battlefield. Following their invasion into Ukraine, Russia has faced numerous sanctions designed to destabilize its economy and to effectively remove them from the global marketplace. The U.S. is not alone in these sanctions as a majority of Europe as well as numerous Asian countries have stood by the sanctions as well.
The perspective of the invasion has been very different from various viewpoints. The one of President Vladimir Putin has been incredibly narrow. His belief is that the U.S. has been using Ukraine to threaten Russia and its people, as well as claims of genocide against Russian-speaking people in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the leadership of Ukraine, as well as Western leadership, have stated numerous times that Ukraine is just trying to exist peacefully and that any claims of their desire to destroy Russia are simply fiction. Those who are Russian-born but who has called Ukraine home are caught in the middle in a no-win situation. They cannot return home, nor can they defend the Ukrainians against their own people.
This conflict has been causing problems with the entire global economy. As Russia has been largely choked off from trade with their normal partners, the nations who normally purchase their oil and other products have been caught in a very unstable supply vs demand situation. With other nations like Saudi Arabia refusing to increase production and drive pricing back down, other nations like Iran and Venezuela are being looked at to fill those needs.
Problems exist with either of those options, though. Iran has been working on increasing its nuclear production and other defense projects. There is no guarantee or even idea that they wouldn’t use the increase in oil consumption to fund those projects. Venezuela is a firm ally with Russia. They have gone as far as to offer to buy Russian oil. There would be nothing to stop them from reselling that oil to other markets that have sanctioned Russia.
With all these pitfalls troubling Russia as well as the heavy losses their military has suffered, they have no right or ability to claim they could or would put their enemies in their place. They simply are not as well armed, trained, or disciplined as the rhetoric out of Moscow would have people believe. These areas of concern put them at a distinct disadvantage for being able to do anything against foreign militaries, especially on unfamiliar soil. They have already proven they cannot fight in Ukraine. They have no reason to think they can come here, and there is no reason for us to go there.
