US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy expects Moscow to pay “a high price” for the ongoing war in Ukraine. “Western sanctions have caused billions of dollars in damage to the Russian financial sector,” she said in an interview with the Russian newspaper Kommersant. According to Tracy, Russia’s future looks anything but bright, especially now that bilateral relations with the West are at “all-time lows”.
The US ambassador calls Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a major “miscalculation” that has only worsened cooperation and security prospects for Moscow. “The Russians clearly expected the Ukrainians to welcome the troops, but obviously they didn’t. Instead, the Ukrainian people resisted,” said Tracy in the interview with Kommersant. “This resistance is not a form of propaganda, the Ukrainians sincerely want to defend their country.”
Russia, on the other hand, will come out of the conflict much worse, predicts Tracy. The large-scale war, now entering its second year, has “seriously weakened” the country, it sounds. “The Russians are forced to pay a high price that will only increase in the long run. For example, sanctions and export controls have caused billions of dollars in damage to the Russian financial sector and have seriously slowed down the country’s technological progress,” said the ambassador.
It seems as if Russia has returned to the past, to times of repression.
“NATO is only getting stronger”
In addition, bilateral relations with the West are at a low ebb. Several top Russian figures, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, have repeatedly stated that the United States and other NATO allies are enemies of Russia. But according to Tracy, that lust for revenge only ensures that NATO continues to isolate itself. “The Ukrainians are now even more determined to join the alliance,” she says. “And not only Ukraine, but also Finland and Sweden, which have been neutral for a long time.”
LOOK. NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg: “NATO is ready for Ukraine”
The ambassador emphasizes that the United States “does not consider the Russians enemies”. “The US-Russian relationship is currently at the lowest point we can remember (…). It seems as if Russia has returned to the past, to times of repression,” said Tracy. Although there is a lot of talk about “Russophobia” and the destruction of Russia, she says, that is not what the West has in mind. “We are in conflict with the Russian government, but not with the people.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has already lashed out at Tracy. “The Russian people are being murdered with American money and American weapons,” she told Telegram.
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