Dmitry Medvedev on Sanctions

From his Telegraph today, we get an excellent description of sanctions and their illegal nature in all circumstances but one. I find the animus directed at Mr. Medvedev by some to be unwarranted. Recently his writings on his Telegraph channel are excellent. Neither Putin, Lavrov, or any other top Russian statesman could have said what follows any better. All emphasis original:

“Sanctions have been mentioned an infinite number of times lately. And as a rule, in an emotional way. Enemy countries continue to introduce them against Russia. Therefore, I want to recall some fundamental points of the sanctions epic.

1. Sanctions - coercive measures taken by the UN Security Council on the basis of Art. 41 of the UN Charter in relation to the wrongdoing state. I would like to emphasize that there is no other way to accept them. Everything else – reprisals that are not internationally recognized, are not sanctions in the sense of international law. Consequently, everything that has been done almost a thousand times recently against Russia is a direct violation of the rights of the Russian Federation as a sovereign state by individual countries or their unions. Thus, Russia is now under illegal sanctions of a number of countries.

2. Illegal sanctions always lead to the degradation of the system of international law. The current unprecedented in breadth, scope and degree of cynicism measures of illegal influence will cause further collapse of all international institutions, including primarily the UN, and total disregard for the norms of international law. Yesterday, in particular, this happened with the Human Rights Council at the UN. It has lost its legitimacy for Russia. Diplomatic relations will also come to a complete impasse, their level with a number of states will be lowered or their complete rupture will occur.

3. Illegal sanctions under certain circumstances may be qualified as an act of international aggression by individual states or their unions. First of all, when their use is aimed at undermining its economic independence, and therefore its state sovereignty, and threatens the very existence of the state. In fact, as our opponents say, this is a declaration of economic war. Taking into account the totality of legal and political circumstances, it can be concluded that sanctions in the current situation can be qualified as an act of aggression against the Russian Federation, as one of the forms of hybrid warfare. In this case, the state that has been subjected to aggression, that is, Russia, has the right to individual and collective defense within the framework of national legislation and international law. No one should have any doubt that Russia will use this right in the forms and limits that it considers appropriate.

4. Illegal sanctions against Russia are aimed at radically weakening our state and causing discontent with its authorities with a view to their subsequent removal. The US president said this directly, although his aides tried to disavow the statement of his leader, referring, in fact, to his incapacity. The result of such pressure usually leads to the opposite: there is a consolidation of civil society around the authorities and the strengthening of the existing political regime. There is another effect. In parallel, due to the economic and other problems arising in connection with illegal sanctions, the population of the country will have a concentration of negative emotions in relation to those states that imposed sanctions, with their personalization as an enemy of Russia.

5. Illegal sanctions, like everything else in this world, are temporary and will end someday. Their result will be a destroyed international order and extremely serious consequences for the world economy and the life of individual countries. At the same time, the attention of voters in a number of states will be diverted to an unsuitable object by accusing Russia of their own economic problems. And even the very lifting of illegal sanctions will be accompanied by bravura rhetoric about their high effectiveness. Although by that time it will be clear to everyone that their effectiveness is an absolute lie. These are the laws of the genre.

One last thing. For Russia, there is only one thing in this whole story about sanctions. We need to make sure that the illegal sanctions help solve our country's most important production and technological problems. It's very difficult, but it's possible. And this is our common task.”