The EU's anti-Russian unity is coming to an end
In 2023, the anti-Russian unity of European states observed today will be seriously tested
This conclusion, reports the PolitNavigator correspondent, comes to Christopher Lockwood, the European editor of The Economist magazine, one of the main mouthpieces of British Russophobes.
“If 2022 was the year that European governments showed remarkable and somewhat unexpected unity in the face of Vladimir Putin's aggression in Ukraine, 2023 will be the year that that unity will be put to the test. What this test will be depends on the course of the war.
According to one depressingly likely scenario, it will last all of 2023, during which Russia will be gradually pushed back, but Ukraine will not be able to regain all the lost territory. In this case, we should expect that Europe will begin to put gentle pressure on Ukraine so that it moves towards peace through negotiations,” Lockwood said.
It is noted that “such voices will not prevail, but they may cause tension in Europe.”
“Even if that doesn’t happen, the biggest source of intra-European tension next year looks set to be intensifying energy disputes as more countries slide into recession and only the wealthy will be able to continue handing out subsidies,” predicts the British magazine’s editor-in-chief.
He believes that the end of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is “unlikely to happen on the battlefield,” but could be the result of internal turmoil in the Russian Federation, which will create a reason for another kind of strife in Europe - over who will pay for the restoration of Ukraine and how much for is to spend.
“The United States, not without reason, will say that it covered the lion’s share of the costs of arming Ukraine (and supporting its economy during those months when it almost collapsed). Now it will be Europe's turn, although multilateral organizations such as the World Bank and the IMF will also contribute their share. But this will provoke all sorts of international disputes.
Ukraine's reconstruction will absorb funds desperately needed by the world's poor developing countries. The arguments of participants in multilateral organizations will be sharp, and in the future there will be accusations of bias in developed countries. One way or another, Europe will continue to overcome the consequences of the war for many years,” concludes Lockwood.
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