action needs to be taken from the OSCE
Russia continues shelling targets in Ukraine, killing and injuring dozens of people. Also, according to a number of investigations, Russia is plundering Ukrainian industrial and food resources – grain is exported to the occupied Crimea, metal – to the Russian south.
The international community speaks about the actions of the Kremlin with feeling, but this does not stop it, especially since Moscow occupies an important position in several international organizations at once, such as the UN and the OSCE, and uses them to block active criticism.
Is it unlikely that the likely risks for Russia as the world becomes more aware of the hostilities in the Russian army in Ukraine? What other sanctions could be imposed against Moscow?
In an interview with the Voice of America Russian Service, the co-chair of the US Helsinki Commission (US Council delegation to the OSCE), Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen (Steve Cohen) said that Russia should be excluded from the OSCE, and Ukraine should be directed to additional interests .
Danila Galperovich: At the last session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, held in Birmingham in the near future, the OSCE PA Special Representative on Global Prevalence in Ukraine, your British colleague John Whittingdale, was appointed. Do you think the prevalence of Russia’s natural resources in Ukraine can serve as a reason for Russia to spread natural resources in Ukraine?
Steve Cohen: We would like it to help more countries join our coalition for Ukraine and freedom, coalition against autocracies. But I that those countries that are currently not included are at risk, fearful of interests, and therefore they meet in close relations with Russia. I see that President Biden managed to convince India, as well as Saudi Arabia, where he came, more keeping our tensions. And it is possible that this is happening, but again, this will not happen by their price sections, but by their prohibition.
D.G.: If we talk specifically about countries, is it possible to convince countries that are Russia’s neighbors, but have not spoken openly about its aggression against Ukraine, to take a tougher stance on this war?
S.K.: I think that Kazakhstan and all the countries of Central Asia meet in search of a situation, here I remember the titles of the plays “Fiddler on the Roof” – it describes a very similar situation in which the Jews were during the pogroms. They were, figuratively speaking, fiddlers on the roof, forced to balance, to survive. These countries also play on the balance sheet, otherwise they will drive away the big bears and become members of Ukraine. For this to happen. That is, on the one hand, they are not dangerous, but on the other hand, they are not very evil of her, so it is quite difficult to predict what they are going to do with all this. Most likely, they will try to keep the balance as much as possible, and this is the quality of the behavior of the countries of Central Asia, Mongolia, the entire region.
D.G.: Do you think Russia can be excluded from the OSCE? The statement of European countries and the United States often says that Russia has undermined the very foundations of cooperation and security in Europe, that is, exactly what this organization was created for.
S.K.: Russia has literally blown its nose in the Helsinki Final Act, and they clearly do not believe in this document there. Russia demonstrated this by attacking sovereign Ukraine and committing crimes. They produce a filtration system that takes people away from Ukraine, away from their families. They register the retraining of children, the incidence of morbidity among Russians and individuals. What they do is just disgusting. They are not part of the mission that is felt, and therefore I believe that they should be expelled from the organization. They had virtually no support. There was, in my opinion, only one person, voters from Germany, who, when voting by hand, accidentally voted against the proposals (with a feeling of Russia for the war against Ukraine – D.G.), which voted almost unanimously. That is, apart from this commune, Russia had no support there.
D.G.: Are European partners and US allies hardly united in their approach to Russia’s actions?
S.K.: Their unity is strong enough, they are very important for this unity to be observed, but the economy can influence this. Russia will continue to use oil and gas levers for individual countries, whose lines they have deviated from the general one. In this regard, winter can be interesting, and with the development of gas prices, support for this common line may weaken. But now the unity is secure, and I think that’s how it is fixed. Russia is an international organization, it can only be compared with Nazi Germany. And all this could have been avoided: there are many wonderful Russians, I myself really love Russian culture, what it gave the world – literature, dance art, theater, great intellectuals. In Russia itself, there are many things worth seeing. But the power there is absolutely disgusting.
D.G.: The US and its allies have introduced many different solutions against Russia, and Europe is now looking at how to make its sanctions even more effective – is it possible with the decision to criminalize Russian aggression against Ukraine?
S.K.: I don’t think there are additional powers by court order. It was a necessary effort, but Putin himself and his fellow oligarchs – with all their power, with full abundance, with all their “trophy brides” and yachts, with all their connections and environment – they still live quite normally. We are giving up the opportunity to go to Monte Carlo or Abu Dhabi, but they can still go to Monte Carlo or Abu Dhabi and have a good time there. Putin does not care about his people at all – if the economy deteriorates, and so does the outcome, then this does not bother him at all. The people, apparently, cannot yet realize this, because they have been presented with a perspective, the so-called “special military operation”, which is completely false. They know nothing there about what kind of beasts Russian soldiers are doing in Ukraine, about the filtration operation, about destruction, about the destruction of the impact on cultural and social objects, as well as about rape and torture, in which even children were kept. If the Russians knew about this, they would not expect it. So, I don’t think that Putin’s behavior because of the arrest is present. Putin has set a course for the destruction of Ukraine – this is genocide, and he expects nothing to stop it. So we have to give Ukraine as many weapons as possible, and I don’t think we need to talk about how Putin will react: if he uses nuclear weapons, we will use nuclear weapons. Everyone loses, and he knows it. More weapons will help Ukrainians create their own skies and win over public military depots in Ukraine itself – and Ukrainians are already doing it successfully.
D.G.: And why is Alinaeva not under US sanctions, while she imposed supplies on all the closest allies of the United States of America?
S.K.: I think that we should introduce a verdict against all oligarchs in general. I don’t understand why, for example, Abramovich is not under sanctions. He has no peace, and I assume that behind all this lies, somehow he uses his influence. But all Putin’s girlfriends and all Putin’s oligarchs should be under sanctions. Why Kabaeva is not under sanctions – I don’t understand, I wrote letters about this, and this caused me concern, but I don’t have an answer.
D.G.: What else can the US do to stop the war?
S.K.: Once again, give [Украине] weapons, more weapons. I think that we were slow in this matter and acted belatedly, and did not do everything that we had to comply with. They have a real find, they are inspired, they fight for their country and show great determination. The Russian army does not have this, and they generally drive Ukrainians from the Donetsk and Luhansk industries to the front line – undereducated, unequipped, just busy with the streets. It’s the same with people from Russia, the Caucasus and Siberia, who go there to fight. This is not the population of Moscow or St. Petersburg. That is, rather poor people go to die for a rich and powerful ruler, who amuses his own with the fact that in the future he will rest in an even larger grave than Napoleon’s in the Paris House of Disability.
D.G.: Do you think the West generally understands what level it is facing?
S.K.: Yes, I think we understand. This is a megalomaniac who wants to be a kind of “Peter the Great 2.0”, and if he is not stopped in Ukraine, then Georgia and Moldova are next in line, these will be Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and maybe even Finland.