Kirill Shulika: “The best gift to Putin”

“I’ll note this. Firstly, modern Russia does not need good relations with the United States at all. Moreover, in the domestic political sphere, the worse it is, the better,” the politician writes on his Facebook page in connection with the decision of the US Congress to support new sanctions against Russia.

“Actually, the only thing that drives our foreign policy strategists is the cargo cult. From an economic point of view, big problems are caused by Europe, with which we have stronger ties and higher trade turnover. If we just want money from the United States, then we need a complete political reformat , for which neither the USA nor Russia are ready.

And in this case, it is a mistake to think that there will be no Putin, which means there will be no sanctions. The Jackson-Vanek Amendment existed even when it was not in effect at all, and even regime change and the collapse of the USSR had no effect on it. The point is that the USA is an empire just like us. And there, too, there are analogues of Dugin and Prokhanov, as well as security officials like General Ivashov. In a free political system, they not only have the right to vote on television, but also the right to influence political decisions. And Trump finds himself in a situation like Yeltsin, who agreed to Primakov’s candidacy for prime minister, that is, there is nowhere to go.

Secondly, it is clear that in Russia agitprop has increased the protests of European leaders against this package of American sanctions tenfold. I don’t think that the EU can impose retaliatory sanctions against the United States, but tension will arise in relations, if only because Europe cannot cope without Russian energy resources, and the sanctions apply to this area too.

Thirdly, this follows from the first; it’s difficult to think of a better gift for Putin for the presidential election. Now we can return to mobilization rhetoric, which has not failed so far.”