New Cold War

From Rossiiskaya gazeta, May 18, 2022, p. 2. Complete text:)

Members of the Russian Security Council’s research council, led by Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, discussed counteracting Western sanctions, the course of the special military operation [in Ukraine; see Vol. 74, No. 8, pp. 9‑13 – Trans.] and the restructuring of the Russian economy in the context of a new cold war.

According to Patrushev, the West ramped up support for Kiev and pushed it to carry out a large-scale violent action in eastern Ukraine. The global anti-Russian campaign launched by the Americans and their satellites conclusively proves that Ukraine has become the pretext for waging an undeclared war against Russia.

“In this regard, I believe it is important for the research council to assess the parameters of this war, as well as its traits and characteristics in comparison with the cold war,” Patrushev told prominent Russian scholars and experts. Incidentally, the Security Council’s research council is made up of 153 Russian academics, scientists and specialists personally appointed by Russian President [Vladimir Putin].

As Patrushev commented, the intentions to unleash such a war were hatched long before February 2022 and would have been implemented regardless of Russia’s actions. “The West does not want a powerful, dynamically developing, sovereign Russia,” he said.

He also said that the goal of the collective West’s current actions is clear – to put restrictions on Russia through sanctions so that it cannot communicate with the rest of the world, including in the fields of science and modern high technologies. [Other goals are] to undermine Russia’s economy, slow the development of our country, and lay the groundwork for the population’s spiritual, moral and cultural degradation.

Ultimately, the West is seeking to pave the way for establishing a Western puppet regime in Russia, a process it has tried and tested in Ukraine and a number of other states. However, according to Patrushev, the special military operation frustrated these plans.

“We were forced to take preventive measures, since the level of threat to [our] national security and the disregard for our country’s interests reached a level that jeopardized Russia’s very statehood and existence,” he said. He also recalled that at a plenary session in December 2021, the research council had completed a detailed review of NATO’s aggressive plans against Russia and CIS countries, along with the plans of the US and its allies to put a stranglehold on our country and stir up protest sentiments. He commented that subsequent changes in the international situation confirmed that the assessments made by experts on the research council were totally correct.

Patrushev’s assistant, Aleksei Pavlov, told reporters about the results and conclusions of the research council’s meeting, which was held behind closed doors on Tuesday [May 17].

He said that in particular, the experts had identified the buildup of military might near the western borders of Russia and other CIS states as a direct threat to our country and all Eurasian countries. At the same time, he continued, the special military operation has confirmed that it is important to take scientific approaches to developing modern weapons and military equipment, and to using troops and forces in military conflicts. In addition, the scholars commented that Russia has made provisions for a series of measures to prevent a rupture in trade and economic relations between our country and other global market players.

For example, in the fuel and energy sector, Russia has plans to ramp up production of liquefied natural gas and develop infrastructure to supply it. It also has plans to create tax and other stimuli to expand petrochemical businesses and encourage developers of oil and gas service equipment, as well as to look at alternative oil trading schemes that would make it possible to circumvent US and European Union restrictions.

In the agroindustrial sector, Russia intends to increase the profitability of domestic grain producers. The experts also pointed to the need to clear this industry of intermediaries.

In the sector of information and telecommunications technologies, Russia hopes to create maximum tax and other benefits for companies producing high-tech equipment and software. For the mechanical engineering and machine tool building industries, there are plans to introduce tax and other incentives to develop production, and to arrange for direct investments from friendly countries and companies in the EU and Japan that want to return to localizing production in Russia.

Aleksei Pavlov said that in general, the Security Council experts believe that Russia needs to move from a macroeconomic policy for financial stabilization to a policy of intensive development based on the structural modernization of Russia’s economy.