New sanctions against the Russian elite: German Gref is still off the list

As an amendment to the defense budget, a committee of the US House of Representatives presented Biden with another list of Russian citizens against whom sanctions should be imposed within six months. If the list is supported by the Senate and the President of the United States, its defendants will not be able in their personal capacity to visit countries dependent on the United States (that is, most developed countries - unless, of course, a global cataclysm does not occur), have accounts and real estate in them.

Unlike previous lists of this kind, this one, prepared by FBK* functionaries, includes key persons of the state and the business community: Prime Minister Mishustin, press secretary of the president Peskov, head of the presidential administration Vaino and his first deputy Kiriyenko, head of Rosneft and Gazprom Sechin and Miller, the head of the FSB Bortnikov and the Investigative Committee of Bastrykin, the mayors of Moscow and St. Petersburg Sobyanin and Beglov, Ernst, Solovyov, Simonyan, businessmen Abramovich, Deripaska, Timchenko, Usmanov, the head of the Central Election Commission, Panfilov and others.

Unlike almost all previous ones, such a list, due to its completeness, will qualitatively aggravate relations with Russia and bring the US conflict with us to a new level of confrontation, at the very moment when the US desperately needs, if not an alliance, then at least neutrality. Russia in its hybrid aggression against China. That is why, speaking at the UN General Assembly, Biden did not mention Russia in any way. It is possible, incidentally, that the nomination of a new sanctions list is an attempt to break Biden's course and return to direct confrontation with us.

Exactly for this reason, Biden will by no means necessarily “salute”, but for now the influence of the appearance of this list on the domestic situation is important.

First of all, the sanctions list identifies the people closest to the president of Russia and the most important for the Russian statehood. Of course, it is a shame to live in a time when, even if not the highest, but highly regarded in Russia awards for patriotism are awarded by the United States, and not our state. Of course, the American view of the leadership of our country, albeit adjusted by the recognized extremist organization of the FBK (very illiterate), is traditionally primitive and unsystematic. Of course, a number of people, most likely, were included in the list simply because of personal grievances of one of the liberal hysterics.

But, nevertheless, 35 members of the Russian elite received a "quality mark", even if not convenient for all of them as individuals, while everyone else saw that sanctions could be extended to them at any time, and quite arbitrarily: due to small twists in domestic American politics and the accidental denunciation of another accidental traitor.

The growing awareness of the impossibility of building relations with the United States (and therefore with the West in general), even as a private person who simply has some kind of real estate on the territory of Western countries, undoubtedly, additionally consolidates the Russian elite - both around the national interests of Russia and personally around the president.

At the same time, it is significant that, as usual, the United States did not include the overwhelming majority of liberals on the sanctions list, thus convincingly outlining the circle of spokesmen for its interests and, in fact, its representatives, if not the “fifth column”. It contains neither Kudrin, nor Siluanov, nor Nabiullina, nor Chubais and Kudrin, who retain their political influence.

Both politicians are traditionally considered to be the conductors of Russia's interests in the international arena, but in reality they are lobbying for the interests of the West in Russia.

Since the time of voucher privatization, Chubais has become synonymous with the destruction of Russian statehood, and with the reform of the electric power industry he managed to turn this industry, which is the locomotive of all economies of the world, into a brake on the development of Russia.

Kudrin, who served as Minister of Finance for 12 years, reliably blocked the possibility of Russia's progress by an artificially created money hunger and created a model for freezing taxpayers' money in the budget, implementing the principle "Russia's money is not for Russia".

It is characteristic that the list includes the head of the second largest state bank in Russia, Kostin, but by no means the head of the country's first state bank, Gref. The fact that the list does not include the first deputy Mishustin Belousov, traditionally classified by political scientists as patriots, but for a long time and without visible conflicts, collaborated with obvious liberals, gives food for painful reflections.

True, there are exceptions that have made us think seriously about lobbying by Russian leaders of their interests in the United States. This is the Minister of Health Murashko, whose role in the destruction of Russian medicine and the provision of supermortality exceeding the number of those executed in 1937 per capita seems exceptional and sufficient to classify him as a liberal clan, as well as the former First Deputy Prime Minister, now the head of VEB (Russian State Development Corporation, State Investment Bank), liberal Shuvalov, whose dogs flew on separate planes (by the way, the sanctions will not apply to them). For these officials, being included in the sanctions list is an important image victory, a way to at least partially smooth out their monstrous reputation, and possibly strengthen their positions in the apparatus struggle.

Thus, the next US sanctions list, regardless of whether it is adopted for execution, consolidates the patriotic part of the Russian management elite around the president and clearly identifies the circle of at least potential traitors.

* Anti-corruption foundation is recognized as a foreign agent in Russia