Pulled report shows Russia’s fear for influence on neighboring countries

A leaked report by the Russian governmentto which the British newspaper “Financial Times” had access, the sanctions now puts the sanctions in a different lightr. Accordingly, Russian civil servants believe that western sanctions had driven a wedge between Russia and some of his closest trading partners.

Pressure from the west disabilities Moscow Efforts to bind the former Soviet countries closer to themselves and to build economic relationships with the global south. The report was presented at a strategy meeting under the direction of Prime Minister Mikhail Mischustin last April. It “offers a rare insight into the way Russia’s war against Ukraine has affected the relationship with some of his closest allies,” writes the “Financial Times”.

According to the report, Moscow wants to restore its access to world trade by putting Russia at the center of a Eurasian trading block who is supposed to accept the economic spheres of influence in the United States, the EU and China. However, the obstacles to Russia’s return in the world are considerable, the authors of the report write.

The West successfully pushed the central Asian countries with “sugar bread and whip” to comply with the sanctions and at the same time gave them access to global markets and supply chains. In addition, Russia’s allies would have benefited from the sanctions. Moscow, according to the report, must think in the long term if it wants to keep central Asian countries in its sphere of influence.

The most important news of the day at a glance

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  John Bolton, former national security advisor of US President Donald Trump, sees no great strategy behind his first official acts since returning to the White House. “He follows his instincts, where it is always about transaction – and about what he personally uses personally,” said Bolton of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. More on this here.
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  According to Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD), Germany has to prepare itself in NATO for a “war” for defense against Russia and spend more than three percent of economic output. Germany and the Bundeswehr would have to be able to “wage a war in a network with the NATO partners,” said Pistorius on Wednesday in Brussels after his first meeting with the new US defense minister Pete Hegseth. More on this in the news blog.
  According to its own statements, the Ukrainian secret service SBU has arrested a high -ranking member of their own ranks, which is said to have worked with Russia. “The chief of staff of the SBU anti-terrorist center worked for the enemy,” said a statement by the SBU in the Telegram online service on Wednesday.
  The Ukrainian capital Kiev was shaken by violent rocket fire in the early morning. The local military administration reported on Telegram about fires in several districts, including on the roofs of residential buildings and in an industrial area.
  US President Donald Trump sends his finance minister Scott Bessent for talks about the end of the Russian war of aggression to Ukraine. Besser will talk to the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj, Trump wrote on his online language tube Truth Social.