Anti-Russian sanctions were discussed and condemned at the World Youth Festival

Anti-Russian sanctions have not led to the international isolation of Russia, but they deserve some resistance. These are the conclusions reached by listeners of a thematic lecture by former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, held on Sunday at Sirius as part of the World Youth Festival (WYF). As it turned out, the delegates consider Russia a full member of the global community, they welcome Russians, and even in some cases are ready to resist unfair anti-Russian restrictions.

The organizers of WFM 2024 clearly kept in mind the task of demonstratively dealing with the idea of ​​Russia’s international isolation, allegedly caused by Western sanctions. “We have received more than 300 thousand applications from 180 countries, which… without alternative destroys the myth of any isolation of Russia,” the head of Rosmolodezh Ksenia Razuvaeva announced the topic at the pre-festival press conference. Festival scenes with countless national flags, foreign speech and dissimilar faces seemed to confirm this success. Without exaggeration, this “exit into the world” had a therapeutic effect on Russians: Russian-speaking participants in conversations with Kommersant always and first of all shared the joy of the very fact of communicating with foreign-language peers.

The foreigners who arrived really stick to the mark. By walking between the flags with a non-binding small talk, you can receive invitations (up to indicating the address) to Brazil, Vietnam, Syria, Spain, etc. Guests do not understand questions about “isolation” in principle. “You can save up for a ticket!” — the Indians hinted to the Kommersant correspondent. “They won’t let you fly out?” — the Vietnamese were surprised. “Indicate that you are going on vacation,” the Portuguese recommended.

If not everyone, then many have heard about the economic sanctions imposed on Russia. But the corresponding educational program from Karin Kneissl was in demand from all categories of participants. “Sanctions are more symbols than Realpolitik, true diplomacy,” the ex-minister immediately explained to the audience. “They are aimed at achieving a certain behavior from the country on which they are imposed.” However, in the case of Russia, the maneuver did not work, just as it had not worked before with Iran, Iraq or South Africa. Since the time of the Napoleonic blockade of Great Britain, sanctioned states have found “ways around it,” the politician recalled: “And the Russian economy also found a replacement.” At the same time, sanctions contribute to the emergence of “own solutions” in different industries and work to improve alternative supply chains, added Ms. Kneissl. All this has a negative impact on the transparency of markets, she admitted, and in general does not correspond much to the universal spirit of “law”, to the triumph of which the Old World has hitherto been devoted: “These are terrible things: law and freedom are disappearing. …Europe was good because it was always the “center of law” while its prosperity came from the colonies.”

Most of all, traditional “legality,” according to the ex-minister, is being violated by financial measures that are not aimed at stabilizing the situation: “They have already frozen profits from (blocked.— “Kommersant”) assets, and this money was used to buy weapons and ammunition.” “There is no real diplomacy in this, and sanctions will always cause more damage to the one who applied them,” the politician believes.

The audience, judging by the restrained applause, believed what they heard, but in the question-answer session they unexpectedly demanded recipes for specific and actionable solutions from the ex-minister. “How to overcome sanctions on science and attract Europeans who want to communicate with Russia?” – asked Maria from Estonia. “We had such good relations with Germany and Austria—what can we do to maintain them?” — the Russian woman Kristina was interested. “We must admit that some sanctions still work, how can we counteract them?” — Angelina from Uzbekistan was preparing to record the answer. “How can we, the international community, help Russia overcome sanctions?” — Bianca from Brazil was worried about her comrades.

Karin Kneissl praised the zeal of young people, simultaneously making it clear that there is no better recipe than the actual need to maintain this zeal. Specifically, she advised attracting specialists to Russia from countries affected by their own restrictions (for example, from the German auto industry), using sanctions “as an opportunity for alternative business,” and not considering the European Union and the United States as a single “center of the world,” thereby repeating their mistake. The West will someday realize this mistake, Ms. Kneissl is sure, and then relations between the EU and Russia can be restarted: “I’m afraid it won’t be possible to go back, but it will be necessary not to go back (too much has been said and done), but to open a new one.” page.”

Grigory Leiba, federal territory “Sirius”