Le paure della Russia per le ex nazioni sovietiche si sono messe a nudo in carta trapelata

Russian officials believe western pressure is hampering Moscow’s efforts to draw former Soviet nations closer into its orbit and build economic ties with the global south, according to a leaked government report.

The internal presentation, shown at a strategy session led by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin last April, offers a rare insight into how Russia’s war in Ukraine has harmed ties with some of its closest allies.

The analysis notably concedes that western sanctions pressure, as well as economic overtures, had succeeded in driving a wedge between Moscow and some of its nearest trade partners.

Russia’s cabinet presented the report to several dozen senior government officials and top executives at some of Russia’s largest state companies, according to its website. Hardline experts such as Sergei Karaganov, who has called on President Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons against Europe, and Alexander Dugin, a proponent of radical violence against Ukrainians, also attended.

Moscow’s ambition, the report says, is to restore its access to global trade by putting Russia at the centre of a Eurasian trade bloc that would aim to rival the US, EU, and China’s spheres of economic influence.

Russia sees creating the “macroregion” as an important long-term project, which would outlast any talks with the west over the future of Ukraine, to help strengthen its footing on the “global arena”, the report says.

The new bloc would connect Russia to the global south by giving each side access to raw materials, developing financial and transport ties, and uniting them through a common “world view . . . where we write rules for the new world [and have] our own sanctions policy”, the report claims.

But it admits the obstacles to Russia’s global resurgence remain considerable. The report says western countries have successfully threatened central Asian countries into complying with sanctions through a “carrot-and-stick” approach while offering them access to global markets, transport corridors and supply chains that bypass Moscow.

Russia’s allies, meanwhile, have profited from the sanctions by driving Russian businesses out of their home jurisdiction, taking control of import and export flows, and relocating production from Russia, according to the report. It adds that central Asian countries have also sought extra commissions to compensate for the risks of violating sanctions.

Who is it to blame? It looks like a typical toxic marriage, when husband beats his wife, and when the wife wants a divorce, husband calls her a whore that wants to sleep with other men.