As the West is persistently taken aback by the fact that most of its attempts to damage and destroy Russia have failed, its sinister mind is coming up with ridiculous ideas to target Moscow. But unlike earlier, the US and Europe are not going to target Moscow this time.
In their hitlist, some other countries are mentioned. Which are these other countries and how would targeting them hurt the diplomatic, economic and political interests of Vladimir Putin?
According to Moscow’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the US has turned to Islamist fanatics to organise terrorist operations in Russia and other former Soviet republics. According to the agency, a group is receiving training at a facility in Syria for this reason.
According to “reliable reports,” the US military is actively seeking fighters from jihadist organisations linked to the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and Al-Qaeda to carry out terrorist strikes in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
A number of the former Soviet republics, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, are now part of the CIS, which was founded after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The SVR claims that the US has recruited 60 terrorists who have a history of activity in the Middle East. At the Al-Tanf American military facility in Syria, they are receiving training in the creation and use of improvised explosive devices.
The agency said that preparing strikes on heavily guarded sites, such as foreign diplomatic missions, received particular attention. Washington intends to “deploy the militants as part of small groups to the territory of Russia and the CIS states in near future,” it was further said in the statement. The SVR stated that they will then go after diplomats, public officials, law enforcement authorities, and military personnel.’
We observe that US security services have abandoned any moral standards. Washington strategists believe it is OK to directly use terrorists for their immoral aims because they are fixated on the insane idea of ‘sucking Russia dry”, the agency claimed. Such acts, it claimed, placed Washington on a level with the largest international terrorist organisations.
The White House, according to SVR Director Sergey Naryshkin, is pursuing measures to establish an “instability belt along Russia’s external perimeter.” The purpose of the security services in Russia and the CIS nations, according to Naryshkin, is to “counteract the damaging actions of Western countries on the territory of our republics.”
What made the West come up with this absurd idea?
The SVR’s intelligence report brings into focus the entire objective of the West’s sole military alliance, NATO.
The sole objective of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s founding was to prevent the Soviet Union and its allies’ political, diplomatic, and economic rise. NATO was used as a weapon by the US after the Second World War in its aggressive conflict with Moscow. The US and Europe have continued to plot the overthrow of Russia even after the collapse of the USSR.
Their military alliance’s harsh realities, though, have exposed its waning legitimacy and competence. NATO has come under fire for being an uncoordinated, disorganised, and ineffective organisation. NATO has disappointed its member nations in addition to breaking its pledges.
In fact, political analysts and NATO members are beginning to notice the clear indicators of failure and weaknesses in the alliance’s structure. Many member states want to leave this oppressive organisation, where there is no room for disagreement because the leadership is dominated by a small number of countries.
Even before the start of the Russo-Ukraine war. Cracks and disputes emerged.
This happened in 2018, when former US president Donald Trump criticised NATO members for underfunding the alliance’s defence spending. Michael Fallon, a former defence minister for the UK, concurred with Trump.
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Similarly, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, also criticised NATO for having a “brain-dead” leadership. In light of Turkey’s geopolitical aggressions, he noted that the bloc lacks coordination and strategic decision-making and underscored its inaction.
Macron’s concerns were echoed by the Croatian government. It also condemned NATO for its lack of reaction to a military drone that flew from a Ukrainian war zone and crashed in Croatia’s capital.
The criticism of NATO from the entire world in general and its member states, in particular, is stemming from the fact that the bloc has not been able to damage the diplomatic and economic interests of Russia.
For months, Western leaders plotted the downfall of Moscow and hatched numerous conspiracies against Putin. But to their disappointment, their catastrophic measures backfired. Instead of having any repercussions on Russia, the sanctions imposed by the US and Europe on Russia were a blessing in disguise.
Since Moscow started its military operation in Kyiv, the Russian economy has escaped the collapse that many had expected, thanks to increased oil export prices that have masked the effects of Western sanctions.
The Russian economy only shrank by a negligible 4.2% in 2022, contrary to earlier predictions that it would contract by more than 12%.
Putin’s promises to the Russians that he would end poverty and inequality despite Western sanctions and inflation were fulfilled due to the high global energy prices. In fact, in the first seven months of 2022, Russia’s current account surplus—the gap between exports and imports—more than tripled year over year to a record $166.6 billion as revenues increased.
To lessen the impact of inflation, Putin also ordered 10% increases in pensions and the minimum salary, while key businesses including Sberbank, the world’s largest lender, and gas giant Gazprom, increased salaries beginning in July.
The unemployment rate in Russia was a record at 3.9% last year, which was the lowest since the statistics service started publishing the figure in 1992, according to the Eikon database.
This resulted in Putin’s approval rating surging by 83%, which was more than 10 percentage points since the outset of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine on February 24, according to polling by the independent Levada Centre.
Apart from the economic rise of Russia, Moscow’s diplomatic interests also strengthened. Vladimir Putin has gained several allies, who were earlier in the West’s camp, in the wake of the Russo-Ukraine war.
Bulgaria is one of them. It finally changed its mind about the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv after a period of indecision and uncertainty. As the unfavourable effects of partnering with the West are finally catching up with it, Sofia realised the significance of its relations with Russia.
This was seen on 9th February, when Rumen Radev, the president of Bulgaria, deviated from most of his peers’ positions when he spoke at the EU summit.
When asked about a potential new wave of sanctions by the EU that might target the Russian civil nuclear sector. Radev emphasised, “Bulgaria cannot consent to penalties against the nuclear energy industry because they would have an immediate negative effect on our nuclear power. This is unacceptable.”
Radev also added that if required, Bulgaria will object to nuclear energy sanctions by using its veto in the EU.
In addition to Bulgaria, the other ally which too refused to participate in the nefarious agenda of the West and safeguarded Russia’s interests in Switzerland.
Following the footsteps of Bulgaria, Switzerland too realised that if Bern sided with Zelensky, it would suffer the same fate as Ukraine. Since Switzerland realised that its economic and diplomatic interests will suffer, it segregated itself from the domination of the US and Europe.
Recently, Switzerland rejected the demand of giving its German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Bern stressed that the tanks were an important part of the country’s military reserves and it will not give them to Ukraine.
In a similar vein, Switzerland rejected Ukraine’s absurd demand of Ukraine to contribute to the $750 billion fund, which was created for the reconstruction of Ukraine, using the frozen assets of wealthy Russian individuals kept in Swiss banks. Denys Shmyal, the prime minister of Ukraine, requested assistance from Switzerland in the war-torn nation’s rehabilitation efforts, but Bern refused.
The ultimate objective of the West
As the failure of the laughable military, diplomatic and economic strategies of the West against Russia suffered a humiliating defeat in the international arena, it exposed the realities of the US and Europe’s shallow promises and uncovered their malicious agenda.
Since Biden Macron and Leyen have been unsuccessful in their numerous endeavours to bring the downfall of Russia in the geopolitical arena, they have hatched a new conspiracy.
The West is now targeting the allies of Russia in the international arena and for that purpose, it is now training the terrorists of IS and Al Qaeda to conduct terror attacks in the territories of countries, located in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which have a strong partnership with Moscow.
Now, let me tell you, the countries in the CIS, which are on the hitlist of the West are Belarus, Armenia and Tajikistan.
While Minsk suffered unjustifiable attacks from the US and Europe, it was Russia which has provided its military support, economic assistance and diplomatic backing. Washington and Brussel’s actions have insignificant actions on Minsk owing to Russia’s ties.
Similarly, last year when all the Western countries disregarded the concerns of Armenia, it was Moscow who assisted it. Russia rehabilitated around 40,000 displaced Armenian people to the Nagorono Kababakh region.
Read more: NATO is pushing another Russian neighbour against it
Apart from Belarus and Armenia, another country which has strong ties with Russia is Tajikistan.
In 2012, Dushanbe granted Russia a 30-year extension on a military post from the Soviet era that is regarded as a fortress against drug trafficking and Islamist extremism. Also, Russian soldiers are stationed in the Central Asian nation that borders Afghanistan.
Therefore, the West’s intention behind recruiting terrorists to attack is to break the strong alliance between Minsk, Dushanbe and Yerevan with Moscow.
But how is the West going to achieve that?
When the terrorists of Al Qaeda and IS carry out terrorist attacks in the future, these allies, in this case, Belarus and Armenia, will be approached by the US and Europe which will them into believing that despite having a strong security and military partnership with Russia, Moscow was not successful in preventing these terrorist attacks.
Then the West will try to persuade Belarus and Armenia to join its flawed military organisation NATO and in addition, will also promise it military equipment and financial assistance as incentives.
The West’s plan here is to use the help of terrorists to prevent the erosion of the waning credibility, capability and relevance of NATO in the region. However, given the fact that a majority of decisions of Washington and Brussels have failed, the chances of this mission being successful are less.
