The international expert community is discussing the prospects of anti-Russian sanctions. The experts believe that ignoring Russia’s aggressive external policies threatens the existing world order.
During her recent final speech in Washington, Samantha Jane Power, who is the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, named weaker anti-Russian sanctions as a step not helping to stop Russia’s aggression in the region. She believes that once the Western world eases the pressure on Russia, Putin will get a signal that he can avoid punishment and can continue violating the international law in the future.
She said that some experts and politicians view weaker sanctions as the most efficient way to talk Russia into play by the rules and respect the existing world order the way it is. The advocates of this standpoint say that Russia will stop assaulting the world order as soon as it feels less of that international pressure coming from the West. However, Samantha Power assumes that the outcome will be exactly the opposite, should they apply this strategy to Russia.
She strongly believes that nothing related to easing the anti-Russian sanctions will not change the way Moscow behaves in the international arena. On the contrary, if that’s the case, Putin and his government will only get reassured that the best way to win something in the international arena is to be the one disturbing the situation in the world.
On the contrary, without tougher sanctions against Russia, other potential aggressors like Iran and North Korea may well start acting as well, thereby destabilizing the situation even more. She reminds us that these nations have been constantly walking on the edge and testing how far they can go without any serious consequences.
At the same time, other experts believe that Washington’s tolerance to Russia’s annexation of the Crimea can also be treated as a long-term threat to the existing world order. The very fact that Washington has been more loyal to the situation is confirmed by what have been going on in the Russia-Ukraine relations over the last couple of months. As Donald Trump is about to move to the White House, experts are anticipating an improvement in the bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington.
