US newspaper: Ukraine's victory on the front will not be enough for the West to 'celebrate'

Ria Novosti quoted an analysis by Andreas Umland, an analyst at the Stockholm Center for East European Studies at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, published in Politico, saying that the main goal of Ukraine and its allies is to restore the territorial integrity of the Eastern European country. However, a victory on the front will not be enough reason to "celebrate", and is hardly a source of pride for the West. And even if Ukraine's borders are completely restored, cracks in international relations will still exist.

According to Politico, a satisfactory end to the conflict will certainly not erase the West's "shame" over sanctions against Russia, and their "backfire effects."

"It is true that the scope of the sanctions package is unprecedented, creating heavy pressure on the Russian economy. However, those sanctions only slightly changed the situation of the conflict. In 2022, when most of the Western sanctions were applied, Russia surpassed Germany in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) for the first time in history," said analyst Andreas Umland.

Once called the “almighty stick”, Western economic sanctions have had no effect on Russia. In fact, many Western companies continue to buy and export to Russia, through various intermediaries.

According to Ria Novosti, Russia has repeatedly stated that it will cope with the pressure of sanctions that the West began to apply several years ago and continues to increase. Moscow noted that the West lacks the courage to admit the failure of sanctions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously stated that the West's policy of containing and weakening Russia is a long-term strategy, and that sanctions have dealt a heavy blow to the entire global economy. According to the Russian leader, the West's main goal is to worsen the lives of millions of people.