Foreign Policy: Biden Cannot Decide To Introduce Anti-Corruption Sanctions Against Russia
Photo: Evelyn Hockstein / Reuters
The administration of US President Joe Biden, determined to combat corruption around the world, will in no way dare to impose sanctions against Russia. This opinion was expressed by Foreign Policy columnists Benjamin Schmitt and Paul Massaro.
Foreign Policy writers admired the administration's new strategy announced on the sidelines of the Summit for Democracy. However, Schmitt and Massaro believe that Washington's mission cannot be considered complete until it decisively opposes the “powerful foreign elites” and imposes sanctions on them, in particular, the Russian authorities.
In their opinion, Biden already had the opportunity and even the need to impose sanctions against Moscow. “The same week that the administration unveiled its historic anti-corruption strategy, Russian President Vladimir Putin concentrated troops and equipment on the border with Ukraine, threatening to escalate and exacerbate the destabilization that began in 2014,” the authors say, adding that the Americans still have not responded to Moscow's “hostile actions”.
Schmitt and Massaro added that US foreign policymakers and experts are too focused on consolidating the West to oppose Beijing, but they prefer not to act in relation to Russia. “But Moscow’s current measures to circumvent sanctions are a future manual for China on how to undermine global democracies,” the journalists conclude.
