Ivan Timofeev: The US and its allies have done more to nationalize the Russian business elite than anyone could have imagined

By Ivan Timofeev, Programme Director of the Valdai Club and Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council

The imposition of US sanctions against the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) is something of a paradox. The RSPP reflects the interests of businessmen and companies – ie. the locomotives of the capitalist economy. 

So, by definition, these are the very people who most believe in free markets. 

Capitalism, in turn, is the pillar of the Western model of economic structure and the main source of open trade and the exchange of goods and ideas. In theory, the idea of political competition also grows from this.

It would be banal to call such sanctions a manifestation of double standards. This is different. Rather, ideology has now receded into the background, replaced by simple instincts of “war of all against all”. If democracies are not at war in the sense of liberal theory, then capitalist economies are.

It is symptomatic that US Department of the Treasury’s press release, which usually describes the reasons for blocking sanctions in colorful terms, is this time reduced to clichéd phrases in the spirit of a cartoon, or fairytale (like in the Soviet story Urfin Jus and his Wooden Soldiers). 

So, really, they know there is not much to say about this sort of hypocrisy. 

Russia, however, is benefiting. The US and its allies have done more to nationalize the Russian business elite than anyone could have imagined – even the most optimistic Kremlin personnel, in their wildest dreams.  And they are continuing to do so, further accelerating processes that have already gained momentum.

This post was originally published by ‘Sanctions. Expertise‘ Telegram channel, translated and edited by the RT team

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