Note: this article is more than one year old.
The logic of prioritizing financial matters over the Ukrainian conflict is flawed.
Tatyana, 69, walks in front of her destroyed house in the village of Lukashivka | Sergei Chuzavkov/AFP via Getty Images
SEPTEMBER 8, 2022
Lubov Chernukhin is a former investment banker born in the USSR and the largest female political donor in British history, having donated over £2 million to the Conservative Party.
The international humanitarian response to Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has been inspirational. But despite the high tally in Ukrainian civilian casualties — now upward of 13,500 — British and European public attention is faltering.
People are beginning to view Ukraine as Russia’s Afghanistan 2.0 — a war that drones interminably on, prompting fatigue, the resultant “so it goes” mentality leading to international quasi-acceptance of ongoing events. However, this isn’t a war being fought beyond the Continent’s periphery — the barbarity is happening in the middle of Europe. Yet, as Ukrainians continue to die at the hands of the Russian army, the public focus is turning toward domestic issues, especially to the soaring cost of living.
And though it’s certainly not my intention to play down the severity of the current economic climate, the logic of prioritizing financial matters over the Ukrainian conflict is flawed.
According to data collected by NewsWhip, in recent months, digital engagement on issues relating to Ukraine has dropped dramatically. By the end of May, social media interactions on articles about Ukraine saw a 22-fold decrease compared to the start of the invasion, and the volume of stories published about Ukraine has similarly declined.
However, this reality overlooks the fact that today’s economic hardships and the war are inextricably linked. In the same way the Kremlin’s support for Syrian autocrat Bashar al-Assad contributed to an unprecedented refugee crisis in Europe in 2015, Russia’s leaders are now weaponizing energy to weaken Western resolve.
The most obvious way in which the Ukraine war has contributed to global inflation is through its impact on oil markets. It’s an inconvenient fact that, despite Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, the European Union continued to depend on it for its energy needs and it made no provisions to decrease dependence on Russian liquid hydrocarbons over the last eight years.
In fact, despite warnings from the United States, the EU sponsored the Nord Stream II pipeline, increasing its dependence on Russian gas, and in the United Kingdom, we are now suffering due to this pre-war appeasement of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime. Following the outbreak of war, things didn’t change either, and instead of standing against Russia as one gas purchasing block, setting terms and prices according to which it would be willing to import Russian gas under the sanctions regime, the bloc’s nations competed for Russian gas.
According to estimates, energy prices will now likely reach their highest levels since the 1970s. And only six months into this grotesque war, the G7 has begun taking steps to agree on a joint approach to at least limit the price of Russian oil, largely thanks to pressure from U.S. President Joe Biden.
Russia has clearly benefited from these soaring prices, which it manufactured itself. The EU has spent an estimated €87 billion on Russian coal, oil and gas since the invasion. By comparison, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal, since the start of war, the West has given $17.5 billion of aid to Ukraine, and so far, the EU has provided only €2.5 billion of a promised €9 billion.
Meanwhile, food prices are also rising. Russia has become one of the world’s largest wheat producers, and while it exports mostly to Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, transportation problems caused by sanctions have driven wheat prices upward.
Since the fall of the USSR, Russia had been welcomed as a member of the international trading community, even joining the World Trade Organization in 2012. This trust was misplaced.
While sanctions have thrown the Russian economy back decades, make no mistake that the country’s leadership is counting on the West suffering — hence its decision to shut down gas flows, and the Kremlin’s announcement on Monday that Russia won’t resume gas supplies to Europe until Western sanctions are lifted.
It’s not all doom and gloom, however. Despite continued sabotage from Russian forces, Ukraine’s grain corridor did reopen earlier this summer, and over 1 million tons of agricultural products have since been exported from the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the target is to reach 3 million tons of exports by sea every month, which has now begun to ease some of the pressure on food supply.
We are also witnessing the birth of a truly European nation in Ukraine. Like a phoenix, it is rising from the ashes ,and with Western help, it’s inflicting pain on its aggressor. Despite high oil and gas prices, Russian tax collection has fallen by an average of 30 percent, its exports by as much as 66 percent, and its economy is contracting. It’s also expected that Russian troops will face a severe shortage of ammunition by the year’s end.
The effect of our support is tangible, and we must persevere.
The Ukraine war isn’t an isolated crisis — it’s an issue that will continue to impact us all until Russian forces are withdrawn or expelled from Ukraine. Western war fatigue in Britain, and elsewhere in Europe, must be resisted, not only for the sake of Ukraine but for the restoration of transnational economic health and international rule of law.
Pressure on the Kremlin cannot be eased, and the onus is on politicians — including Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss — and the business community to be united against this military and economic aggression, and to end our dependence on Russian commodities.
Meanwhile, it is on international media to hold their governments to account, and keep their coverage of the war flowing.
The top of the article says:
“Lubov Chernukhin is a former investment banker born in the USSR and the largest female political donor in British history, having donated over £2 million to the Conservative Party.”
She is the one who paid 90 grand for two tennis matches with Boris. As you can see from her rather good article, she identifies as British.
Facts posted a very good article from the KP:
OPINION: Russian Terrorism and British Silence:
https://ukrainetoday.org/2023/10/15/opinion-russian-terrorism-and-british-silence/
It didn’t mention Mrs Chernukhin, but in a rare error of judgement it said :
“The British Government’s inaction suggests two possible justifications.
The first, is the impact of the proscription of Russia on the Russian people, who may not support the Kremlin, and the second – a more sinister and calculated decision based on Conservative historical links to Russian funding and British reliance on Russian money in the UK economy.”
The hyperlinks led to a separate article that included the phrase:
“Lubov Chernukhin, a Russian Conservative donor, has continued to donate large sums of money to the Party. The Tories reported in February this year she had donated £10,000 to Brandon Lewis MP and a further £34,000 via ‘auction prizes’.
The implication being that she’s linked to putler. Well, clearly she isn’t and the writer of the KP article; Stepan Stepanenko, rather undermined his message with an unjustified slur on the UK.
I commented on the article. Here is an edited version:
Most of the article is very good.
The UK has proscribed 76 terror gangs, including Hamas, Hizbollah, the Wagnazis and of course the IRA; yet another Russian client. It has not proscribed any actual countries; not even Russia, Iran, Syria, NK etc.
One passage in this article is a big mistake; a case of biting the hand that feeds it:
“The first, is the impact of the proscription of Russia on the Russian people, who may not support the Kremlin, and the second – a more sinister and calculated decision based on Conservative historical links to Russian funding and British reliance on Russian money in the UK economy.”
These pre-2022 donors are all UK registered voters. If the writer can provide even one example of Russia benefiting from any Tory policy since 2014, I’d be pretty surprised. There is no putler wing of the Tory party. Unfortunately Marxist Labour does have one; it consists of unsavoury putinoid scum such as Diane Abbott and JeremIRA CorbLenin.
Polls suggest a Labour victory next year. Although Sir Kier Starmer is pro-Ukraine (or as much as a slippery lawyer like him ever can be), there will be a close analogue of the GOP’s putler wing, which could cause as much trouble as those turds.
“We are also witnessing the birth of a truly European nation in Ukraine. Like a phoenix, it is rising from the ashes ,and with Western help, it’s inflicting pain on its aggressor.”
I can understand why she said that at that time. Who could have foreseen that the emerging sinister and evil putler bloc in the GOP would build so much influence that it would paralyze Ukraine aid?