Hopes that rock-bottom relations between Moscow and Washington can be turned around are unlikely at present, a top Russian politician has claimed, arguing that only when a new world order is established will there be less conflict between the two states.
Senator of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Commission on Information Policy and Interaction with the Media of the Federation Council Alexey Pushkov. © Sputnik / Vladimir Trefilov
Speaking as part of an interview with Ukraina.ru earlier this week, Aleksey Pushkov, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, who previously served as chairman of the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee, cast his view on the current power dynamic on the world stage.
“The US is a hegemon that is gradually losing its position in the world,” he claimed. “They suffered a very serious defeat in the Middle East, they lost Syria, they lost the battle for Afghanistan, they were forced to withdraw almost all of their troops from Iraq at the end of 2021.”
According to the Russian senator, US officials “are trying to maintain their dominant influence by having conflicts simultaneously with Russia and China, although with different degrees of intensity.” Pushkov noted that this creates a nervous environment both in America and the rest of the world.
“The US no longer treats us as a secondary power,” he explained. “They treat us as a paramount power, which is why they cite Russia, not China, as one of the main problems facing the Biden administration in 2022.” Pushkov warned that it will be “a year of crisis between Washington and Moscow.”
“As I understand it, they now want to solve the ‘Russian problem,’ that is, to subjugate practically all of Europe, pushing Russia to its very outskirts,” he said. “This is exactly what they need Ukraine for. The next phase will be a political or even military confrontation with China.”
Pushkov added that America’s political and financial elite “believe that they are the only ones who can run the world,” and do not intend to let anyone else take the helms.
“So, until a new world order is established in which the US is weaker and its role is diminished, we will be in more or less acute political conflict with them.”
His remarks come amid an increasingly tense stand-off between East and West, with senior American officials accusing Moscow of amassing troops and hardware near the Ukrainian border ahead of an invasion.
Last week, Biden threatened to hit Russian President Vladimir Putin with sanctions like “he’s never seen” before in the event of an incursion, which the Kremlin has repeatedly denied having any plans of staging.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, warned against a move such as this earlier this month, stating that “the imposition of sanctions against the head of state and against the leader of Russia … is a measure that is comparable to severing relations.”
By Layla Guest, RT.com
