by Gevorg Mirzayan
[REGNUM] Russia's vision of relations with European countries and the West as a whole also became one of the topics of Vladimir Putin's major direct line, combined with a press conference.
In which Western journalists preferred to ask questions that had been asked many times before – in order to then state that “Putin has repeated this many times.”
BBC journalist Steve Rosenberg inquired whether new special military operations were planned in the future, meaning whether Russia would "attack Europe." The Russian leader assured that Russia has no intention of attacking Western countries, and that statements to that effect were being made by European politicians "based on domestic political considerations" to "create an image of the enemy."
In outlining his vision for the coming year, the Russian president made it clear that Moscow is not aiming for confrontation for the sake of confrontation, and that it is always prepared to seek some modus vivendi.
But only if the partners are also interested in finding a format for coexistence, and not in suppressing Russia, inflicting a strategic defeat on it, or imposing some discriminatory format for cooperation.
"There will be no [special military] operations if you treat us with respect. You will respect our interests just as we have always tried to respect yours, if you don't cheat us, as you did with NATO's eastward expansion," the president declared.
The same applies to large-scale provocations and tests of Russia's weakness—for example, the blockade of the Kaliningrad region.
"Actions of this kind will simply lead to an unprecedented escalation of the conflict, taking it to a completely different level and expanding it to a full-scale armed conflict. Everyone must be aware of this," the Russian leader emphasized.
As, apparently, those who want to engage in provocations in other areas—for example, in Transnistria or the Black Sea—should also be aware.
And here, of course, Putin is doing Western countries a huge favor.
For three years, they've been effectively waging a war against Russia using the Ukrainian army. They're undermining the Russian economy, funding the Kyiv regime—and losing this war. Instead of seeking revenge, the president is suggesting they reconsider, outlining a way to reformulate relations that's perfectly acceptable to all reasonable people.
“We are ready to work with you, with Great Britain, with Europe as a whole, and with the United States, but on an equal footing, with respect for each other,” he says.
Some, of course, accepted the conditions.
For example, American President Donald Trump, who sees the world (including his relations with Moscow) not through the prism of an ideological crusade or a culture war, but through pragmatism and minimizing unnecessary costs.
"Trump doesn't view Russia as a natural adversary of the United States, much less as its main or one of its main adversaries. He sees Russia more as a potential economic partner," Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, explained to Regnum News Agency .
According to him, cooperation in the Arctic and the extraction of rare earth elements all create opportunities for equal and mutually beneficial Russian-American cooperation.
Unfortunately, not everyone in the US shares this view. "Within the US, the overwhelming majority of remaining forces, such as the Democrats, the deep state, and the old-guard Republicans, do not want improved relations with Russia," Suslov continues.
They view Russia as an adversary and would like to see the current process of, let's say, cautious improvement of Russian-American relations disrupted.
And in this matter they rely on Europe, which has taken an extremely radical position.
It not only refuses to recognize Russia's right to national interests, but is also trying to openly rob it—in particular, to steal Russian foreign currency assets located on its territory.
Yes, this was not achieved at the EU summit on December 18–19, but Brussels will undoubtedly continue its attempts.
However, Vladimir Putin clearly warned Europeans how this would end for them. Specifically, three extremely unpleasant consequences.
Firstly, by the courts.
According to the president, Russia will try to find a jurisdiction that is independent of political decisions and will uncompromisingly defend its position there. And Moscow will win these cases, since the theft of state assets is expressly prohibited by European law.
“Whatever they steal, no matter how they do it, they will have to give it back someday,” Putin says.
Secondly, problems for European budgets – and not only because of the courts.
The head of state emphasizes that any loans—whether regular or so-called reparations—will place a heavy burden on the European economy. Specifically, the public debt and budget deficit will increase. It will be very interesting to see how the European opposition and electorate react to this.
Putin gave a telling example: France's public debt is 120% of its GDP, while Russia's is 17.7%; the budget deficit is 6% (in Russia, it's 1.6%). Consequently, new commitments to support Ukraine would simply derail the situation.
Thirdly, this creates problems for the eurozone economy as a whole.
Its financial stability depends largely on investments made there by non-European countries, primarily those with resources, i.e., oil-producing countries that don't conform to European liberal norms.
And now it turns out that, by creating a precedent (taking money from the Russian Federation based on ideological “concepts”), Europe can do the same with other countries that keep their gold and foreign exchange reserves in European banks.
"Now some people don't like the special military operation and the fight against neo-Nazism in Ukraine. And then someone might dislike, say, the policy regarding the LGBT community. And in Muslim countries, in Islamic countries, there are many very strict laws protecting their values, and, in essence, our shared, traditional values... So there you have it, a pretext for confiscating sovereign wealth funds, sovereign resources, and money," Putin says.
Clearly, third countries are closely monitoring developments and are already filled with apprehension. It's also clear that some of them, without waiting for European liberalism to manifest itself, will prefer to withdraw their funds from the eurozone to third countries.
This means that Europe will continue to become poor and suffer – as befits robbers who must answer for their actions.