Moscow/Washington/Beijing: While the projection for the Russian economy, reeling under sanctions, is a 2.9 per cent decline in the GDP last year and 0.8 per cent this year, the United States today stepped up more tough measures to curb Moscow’s “efforts to evade sanctions and perpetuate its war against Ukraine”.
In face of it, the Russian Defence Ministry accused the US of resuming military-biological activities in Ukraine, and China demanded that the US should provide a “meaningful” clarification.
Standing for Russia, China today targeted the US for being the only country that continues to oppose multilateral negotiations on establishing a verification mechanism, which fundamentally closes the door to resolving the issue of compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).
“Whenever it comes to international security, the US always makes a great deal about compliance and demands verification for other countries. Why on biological security, in particular, the US has been mum about its own compliance issue? Is there any “secret” that the US is trying to hide? The rest of the world would not accept the US double standard. Still less will they sit by and watch the US stay outside the law on issues that matter to world peace and security,” China stated and demanded that the US make comprehensive clarification and receive verification on its military-biological activities both within and outside the country, and stop thwarting international efforts to strengthen the biological security governance system and legal framework.
China was recently badly snubbed by the USA over the issue of Taiwan, when the latter hosted Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on its soil. With the US by its side, the Taiwanese foreign ministry categorically stated on April 10, 2023, that Taiwan has never been a part of China and that the latter has never governed Taiwan. “These are long-standing historical facts and the status quo across the Taiwan Strait,” Taiwan stated.
Beijing now also has its own concerns over US Secretary of State Blinken’s vow to stand with the Philippines against any intimidation or coercion, including in the South China Sea.
At the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, US Secretary of State Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo, and Philippine Senior Undersecretary and Officer in Charge of the Department of National Defense Carlito Galvez, issued a joint statement of April 11, 2023, which called on China to comply with the 2016 “Arbitral Award” on the South China Sea. The statement also mentioned that the two countries will support the swift operationalization of the new sites for military bases under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement and that the US will provide financial support for this.
China claimed the arbitral award on the South China Sea “gravely violates international laws”. With regard to the new military base sites to which the Philippines gives the US access, Beijing today reminded Manila that “pandering to forces outside the region will not bring greater security, but will cause tensions, put regional peace and stability at risk and eventually backfire”. Disapproving the joint statement, Beijing claimed its “indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea Islands and the adjacent waters”, and stated that the joint statement “misrepresents and discredits the legitimate and lawful maritime law enforcement activities of the Chinese side and even makes false accusations against China”.
In the meantime, complicating the Ukraine stand-off, certain US media reported suspected classified Pentagon documents circulating on social media that indicated that the US government was deeply involved in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and had been spying on its allies.
China claimed today that these leaked US military documents showed that the US had long used its tech edge to conduct indiscriminate secret theft, surveillance and eavesdropping on countries in the world, including its allies. “The US needs to give an explanation to the international community for this,” Beijing demanded today.
The US Department of State and the Department of Treasury, meanwhile, imposed further sanctions on more than 120 entities and individuals across more than 20 countries and jurisdictions in connection with Russia’s “unlawful and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, including facilitators of sanctions evasion”, today. In coordination with the United Kingdom, the US today targeted “sanctions evasion network” supporting one of Russia’s wealthiest billionaires, Alisher Usmanov, who was sanctioned by the US last year.
“In addition to the Usmanov-linked evasion network we are also targeting USM Holding, the primary entity through which Usmanov owns and controls the majority of his companies,” US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken said today.
The State Department also sanctioned two Russian entities “that support Russia’s efforts to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine through the militarization and indoctrination of schoolchildren: The All Russian Children’s and Youth Military Patriotic Public Movement Youth Army, and the State Budgetary Educational Institution of Additional Education of the Republic of Crimea Crimea Patriot Center”.
Today’s sanctions also included the designation of several entities operating in the defence sector of Russia’s economy and entities supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine, including a new Russian private military company and a China-based firm “that has provided satellite imagery of locations in Ukraine to entities affiliated with the Wagner private military company that is fighting in Ukraine on Putin’s behalf”.
The US also designated additional persons associated with the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation, Rosatom. Claiming that Moscow uses energy exports, including in the nuclear sector, to exert political and economic pressure on its customers globally, Washington stated that it will continue to take action against Russia and those supporting its war in Ukraine, “including further implementing the G7’s commitment to impose severe consequences on third country actors who support Russia’s war in Ukraine”.
The US move comes a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a meeting on economic issues, claimed positive economic trends were continuing to grow. Putin referred to operational data to claim that retail trade had been up by almost 25 per cent since early April 2023. He also noted that the business activity index stood at 56.8 points in March 2023, “which is the third-highest figure ever and clearly indicates the growing optimism and positive outlook of domestic business”.
Incidentally, in the first quarter of this year, the country’s consolidated budget revenues exceeded 13 trillion rubles which although is in line with last year’s figures, Putin believed that the “dynamics are good overall”.
Notably, non-oil-and-gas revenue grew by about 14 per cent or 1.4 trillion rubles, but oil-and-gas revenue was “slightly” down by about 1.3 trillion rubles, “which is primarily due to the high base and pricing environment specifics on the global markets last year”. Russia expected the situation to change by the end of the second quarter of 2023 when oil prices will rise, and extra oil and gas revenue will begin to flow into the budget.
Russia reiterated that the Ukraine crisis was engineered by the US with support from its Euro-Atlantic allies.
– global bihari bureau
