Divorce: Russia and the West - the end of the novel

On June 11, the European Parliament adopted an unprecedented resolution: Russia is no longer a strategic partner in Europe. A few days before in Bavaria, the leaders of the leading industrial powers of the world gathered to discuss pressing issues for the 41st time and the second time in a row-without the participation of Russia. The previous 40th summit was supposed to take place in Sochi last June, but after known events in Crimea it was decided to spend in Brussels according to Formula 8 minus 1: the “eight” arose 23 years ago at the expense of Russia became “seven” again. Last year, the Kremlin escaped with bragging: they say, the summit did not take place with us, well, okay - but they saved 2 billion rubles. This year, even more original estimates appeared: it turns out that it was not Russia that was excommunicated from the G8, but the “eight” came out of the Russian chairmanship in it (the deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Ryabkov), or - “ this is not an organization, but a club for interests ” (Vladimir Putin during a visit to Italy - about the “seven” - p. 17).

The problem is that the reputation, including international, is not an article of budget expenditures: you will try to “save”, that is, to violate the generally accepted rules of the game - as a result, it will be more expensive for yourself. No one will help to return the lost - even the pope.

23 years old, the West proceeded from the fact that he and Russia are united by common values ​​(democracy, respect for civil rights and freedoms, the supremacy of international law) and interests (nuclear non -proliferation, regional and global security, the fight against poverty and terrorism). By the way, in what these interests diverge from the national interests of Russia, which we have recently accustomed to justify the collective paranoia, is also not an extra question.

And then there was a divorce. It happened - not suddenly. After all, even the annexation of Crimea itself was not yet a milestone, possibilities for a compromise, despite the decision to impose sanctions against the Russian Federation, still remained. But what happened later with Russian politics finally overturned all the illusions. The war in the Donbass, the propaganda campaigns in the Goebbels style, including a lie about the Russian military in the east of Ukraine, attacks on dissenting and NPOs, the militarization of public discourse - as a result, the West, judging by the intention of the United States, to place ballistic missiles in Europe (as during the Cold War), decided to fundamentally revise relations with Moscow (p. 24). The logic is simple: even if in Ukraine everything can be decided by the world in the end, Russia is no longer a partner. Therefore, Canada at the Bavarian summit G7 suggested forever to exclude Russia from the club of leading powers.

However, as the same experience of the Cold War shows, the chance of straightening the situation always remains. Today, many elements of the international chess game guess the repetition of the XX century (p. 21): the protracted aggression of the USSR in Afghanistan, the drop in oil prices, the American “Persching” and the Soviet struggle for European public opinion were found ... Then the solutions of key international problems were eventually found. And many of us even remember what exactly.

Photo: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters