Lip Service for Ukraine
Even as billions pour into Putin's pockets
My excitement about the designation of Gazprombank—the last major Russian bank that wasn’t included on the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list—was short-lived. I thought the sanctions were a warning to EU members who were still using the bank to pay for Russian energy. I thought that those still buying Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) would expedite their efforts to find other sources of energy.
Apparently I was wrong.
As soon as Gazprombank was included on the SDN list, Türkiye, Hungary, and Slovakia began to howl, demanding waivers from the United States so they can continue purchasing Russian energy through the financial institution that was used not just to process energy payments, but also fund salaries and bonuses for Russian troops, who have been torturing, murdering, and robbing civilian populations in Ukraine, and purchase military equipment with which Moscow targets innocent people.
And guess what!
The Biden administration caved. Just like that.
Hungary and Türkiye have received waivers from the United States to continue pouring blood money into the pockets of Vladimir Putin. Slovakia hasn’t received notification that it can continue funding Russia’s war in Ukraine, but I’m sure that’s coming soon. /sarcasm
In addition, OFAC has granted a general license (GL 115), authorizing transactions that are prohibited by Executive Order (EO) 14024 involving Gazprombank Joint Stock Company or any entity in which Gazprombank owns a 50 percent or greater interest, that are related to civil nuclear energy through 12:01am EST, June 30, 2025.
Yeah, we sanctioned Gazprombank, but you can still transact with it in the civil nuclear energy sphere (as if that’s where the funds will stay) for another six months! Look at us! Aren’t we tough on Russia? *insert self-congratulatory pat on the shoulder here*
Make sure you don’t sprain any muscles patting yourself on the back, there, OK?
/sarcasm
I can at least hope that giving Orban and Erdogan this gift includes some reciprocation. For example, Orban has already started making noises about delaying an extension of EU sanctions against Russia until after Trump takes office. The extension is normally a formality, but Hungary wants to delay the decision, which requires consensus from all EU members, and could give Putin some much needed economic breathing room, considering that his economy and war effort are both on the ropes.
I can also hope that the waiver comes with a promise from Türkiye not to interfere in the Syria ceasefire proposal. Two US senators—Lindsey Graham and Chris Van Hollen—have already introduced sanctions against Türkiye should Ankara meddle in Syria. Maybe the Biden administration extracted a concession from Erdogan in exchange for the waiver?
I have my doubts, knowing this hapless administration.
Fear of Escalation
Time and time again, the United States has promised to help Ukraine, and time and time again the Biden administration either slow-walked or put limitations on how Ukraine can defend itself. Ukrainian president Zelensky in late October revealed that his country received only 10 percent of the aid approved by Congress in April.
Scared by Putin’s ubiquitous and impotent nuclear threats, the Biden administration has worked to avoid escalation, time and again cheering itself for being oh-so-tough on Russia, while giving the Kremlin little presents, such as barring Ukraine’s use of western weapons inside Russia, slow-rolling military aid, delivering the critical materiel well after it would have been most useful, and issuing waivers and general licenses that continue putting energy proceeds in the Kremlin’s coffers.
And Biden is not the only one fomenting hysteria about Russia’s nukes. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also has been spinelessly flogging the fear of nuclear war and chatting with Putin to seal the fate of a sovereign country.
He’s not even remotely sorry!
EU Can’t Wean Itself Off Russia’s Energy Teat
And the Biden administration isn’t the only one stroking Russia with one hand while holding Ukraine back with the other, preventing the country from defending itself against ruthless, ceaseless attacks on infrastructure, hospitals, apartment buildings, and anything else Russia can find to increase the suffering of Ukrainian civilians.
While Ukraine fights and bleeds, the EU in 2024 purchased record amounts of Russian LNG, reports the Financial Times!
Russian LNG accounted for 20 percent of the EU’s overall imports—up from 15 percent from the year before. Major energy companies claim they’re not purchasing Russian LNG on the spot market (where financial instruments are traded for cash for immediate delivery, as opposed to futures). They claim they have specific clauses in contracts for spot purchases that promise the commodity is not of Russian origin.
But the numbers tell a different story, and deliveries from Russia are cheaper than those from the United States. So saving some money is fine, even if the purchases fund literal genocide. Here’s looking at you, France and Belgium!
Not all Russian LNG brought to Europe is consumed there. Some is transshipped to other parts of the world. The transshipments of Russian LNG from Russia’s Yamal terminal to non-EU countries are supposed to be banned, but that measure won’t come into force until March - after the three year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Does Ukraine have infinite time to continue fighting and dying while the EU gives itself (and Putin) some breathing room?
Three years of Ukrainians fighting and bleeding, their homes destroyed, their children stolen, their culture and heritage devastated, while the Europeans buy energy from Russia, funding the carnage and congratulate themselves on the support they’re giving to Ukraine.
Three Years of Devastation
The war in a few weeks will enter its third year.
Three years of destruction.
Three years of courage and grief.
Three years of butchery, with Russian savages raping, torturing, and murdering thousands of Ukrainians.
And while the EU congratulates itself on passing the 15th package of sanctions against Russia, the money continues to flow to the Kremlin, and some members continue to erect barriers against Ukraine’s victory.
As much as I admire Kaja Kallas, and I have no doubt she means what she says, does the EU realize just how hollow these statements ring, as certain EU members continue funding the very same war they condemn?
Meanwhile both Russia and Ukraine are rushing to show the incoming Trump administration just how strong each is, because that’s apparently what the president-elect admires most.
Russia during the past few days launched more than 110 strike drones against Ukraine, destroying an oncology center in Kherson, apartment buildings in Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia, lobbing ballistic missiles at Kyiv, and shelling Sumy, Kryvyi Rih, and the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions. According to Zelensky, “this week alone, the terrorists have used over 550 guided aerial bombs, nearly 550 strike drones, and more than 20 missiles of various types.”
Meanwhile, the Ukrainians successfully targeted Russian general Igor Kirillov, who was head of the Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear Defense Troops of the Russian Armed Forces, with a bomb attached to a scooter and detonated remotely.
Trump’s pick for Ukraine special envoy, Keith Kellogg, pusillanimously squeaked that the assassination of Kirillov was “not a good idea at all.” There are just things in warfare you don’t do, he claimed in an interview with Fox News.
You mean like torture civilians?
You mean like destroy civilian energy infrastructure and medical facilities?
You mean like blow up a dam, causing a massive environmental disaster?
You mean like kidnap thousands of Ukrainian children and russify them?
Are those the things you’re not supposed to do in warfare?
Those are all atrocities committed by the Russians, and those weren’t “carrying things too far,” according to Kellogg. But targeting a murderous military officer who headed troops that used chemical warfare on the Ukrainian battlefield and was sanctioned by the UK for it is taking things too far?
Enough is enough already!
The public relations messaging about support to Ukraine needs to stop. The West must stop talking about supporting Ukraine and actually supporting it. The Ukrainian people with whom I talk are infinitely grateful to western partners for the help they’ve received, but I guarantee that gratitude will turn to rancor, disdain, and anti-western sentiment if Russia is allowed to claim victory.
Further, Putin will see just how weak western resolve is to stop his aggression. He will see that the West cares more about cheap gas than it does about its national security. He will see US politicians quaking in their boots at his threats of nuclear escalation, and he will continue attacks on our society, our infrastructure, our election systems, and ultimately, our sovereignty. What Putin has done in Georgia, threats, violence, and election interference, and what he has attempted to do in Moldova and in Romania, he will work to do everywhere else, spreading malicious disinformation, opening a “firehose of falsehood” until western societies are unable to tell lies from truth.
Stop talking a good game and start imposing severe consequences against Russia without waivers, without general licenses, and without loopholes. Start enforcing the sanctions already in place, and show those who continuously violate restrictions that you mean business.
If it means imposing sanctions on a NATO ally, so be it.
I think things will 'change' come Jan 20th.