MOSCOW, January 21. /TASS/. Russia will be used as an image of common enemy during by Joe Biden Administration in order to evade criticism, experts opined during the "Political Crisis in the US: lessons for Russia and the world" roundtable Thursday. They also added that the anti-Russian position will also be used to consolidate the Western world.
"In my opinion, the US entered a certain period of instability and crisis," says Maxim Grigoriyev, the CEO of the Non-profit Fund for Democracy Studies. "Of course, an image of an enemy will be found in order to evade criticism. Actually, this image has already been found - Russia."
According to Grigoriyev, the US will not abandon this model under the new president.
"There could only be worsening in terms of the US Democratic Party’s dominance. And the US, unfortunately, become an unstable, aggressive, but still powerful country, which is, of course, dangerous both for the world and Russia," he said.
Political researcher Oleg Matveychev pointed out that the US outlined "three main recipes that they intend to use against Russia."
"The first one - is to drive a wedge between the people and the authorities, to drive deeper and deeper home the idea that our people are great - this is good and [the US] loves it - while the power is bad, and [the US] has right to criticize and oust it. That the state is something separate from the people, that people somehow can live without the state. We saw where this logic led in Ukraine, in Moldavia, and they will, of course, inculcate it," he believes.
Matveychev added that the US will also "inculcate love" to American and the West.
"Accordingly, there will be a huge number of so-called humanitarian non-political projects with American participation; they will do good deeds in religion, charity, help scientists, ecologists, etc. They will say that this is not a political activity, that they are not covered by the law on foreign agents," the expert noted.
"And the third thing they will do is fighting corruption, which actually they do not need at all. Because it’s a great luck when everyone around is corrupt and could be bought for a penny. In this regard, America is interested in us having total corruption. They brought it to us back in the day and inculcated it, but fighting against corruption is needed to destabilize political regimes, so they support it and they will support it, and [blogger Alexey] Navalny will be one of the main rams here," Matveychev noted, adding that "Russia will have to act and curb this kind of meddling in our internal affairs."
Western unity and the economy
Yevgeny Minchenko, the CEO of Minchenko Consulting, believes that Biden "will work to restore the Western unity, shattered by ex-president Donald Trump."
"Biden will seek to reinforce the collective West, to bring the West back to the arena. And, in this regard, the Russian issue is a gift; Russia is very convenient as the common enemy. And I believe that the anti-Russian rhetoric will be used in order to strengthen this unity," he noted.
According to Minchenko, the US decision to return to the Paris Climate Accord can affect Russia significantly.
"We should seriously prepare not to the anti-Russian rhetoric alone, but to the fact that the regulations that the European countries have already stated and that the Americans will move towards, will seriously limit our companies’ opportunities to enter external markets. All these carbon taxes, fees for carbon emission during production of different products - this will be a serious story that will limit our competitiveness significantly," Minchenko said.
According to the expert, the US have already made harsh statements that they will seek to block construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.
"Accordingly, Gazprom has problems, and Russia does as well, because this is not merely a business project, but a geopolitical one, too," Minchenko concluded.