With the Russian army in full swing and Ukraine retreating, European allies sanctioning Chinese and Indian companies to vent their anger are trying to test the limits of patience in the two most populous countries. The latest war report reveals that after the Russian army conquered Avdeyevka in Ukraine, it did not stop, but pursued it closely, attacked again, and successfully occupied the village of Klinki on the banks of the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine. According to relevant sources, this location was one of the few areas where the Ukrainian army made progress after its defeat last year. However, with the gradual reduction of military aid from Western countries to Ukraine, the morale of the Ukrainian army on the battlefield has been lost, and in the face of the fierce offensive of the Russian army, they have no power to fight back and are defeated.
If Ukraine is obsessed with regaining all of its 1991 territory and holding Russia accountable for the war, its path to victory seems elusive. The Ukrainian side may not be able to completely expel the Russian army from Crimea and Donbass, even if it only maintains the existing front, it seems to be inadequate.
The defeat of the Ukrainian army on the battlefield has undoubtedly caused the EU to lose face. In anger, the EU's sanctions have become more and more severe, affecting not only China, but also India, which is known as the "world's largest democracy". According to the Observer Network, the EU has recently groundlessly accused Chinese and Indian companies on the grounds of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and imposed sanctions on companies in both countries for the first time. On the surface, the move is aimed at "weakening Russia's offensive against Ukraine", but in fact it is difficult to hide its frustration.
According to the Financial Times, according to relevant documents, the sanctions recently introduced by the European Union are mainly aimed at third-party countries that have dealings with Russia. The list includes not only China and India, but also multinational companies such as Turkey, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Serbia and Kazakhstan. According to the report, companies in these countries are suspected of purchasing goods from EU companies and then selling them to Russia.
The EU's move appears to be a way to spill anger at these third countries that sanctions against Russia have not had the desired effect. Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in March 2022, Western countries have been imposing severe sanctions on Russia. However, nearly two years later, these extreme sanctions have unexpectedly pushed Russia's global GDP ranking from 13th in 2022 to 8th in 2023. At the same time, the soaring international energy is even more inflated, as the United States said, "making Putin's purse even more inflated."
Putin had plenty of money, so he made a large number of ammunition and beat the Ukrainian army to pieces. However, those Western countries that initiated sanctions are unable to spare more funds to purchase arms for Ukraine due to the deep stagflation of their economies, and can only helplessly watch the Ukrainian army retreat on the battlefield. The European Union, in particular, has chosen to sit idly by, and the burden of supporting Ukraine has fallen entirely on their shoulders. So much so that EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Borrell recently lamented that the EU does not lack manufacturing capacity today, but only lacks money.
In the final analysis, the setbacks faced by the EU on the Russia-Ukraine conflict are actually self-inflicted. Who is to blame for them giving up the opportunity to live in peace, and they have to follow in the footsteps of the United States to provoke the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, turning the originally harmonious European continent upside down? What's more, the EU's sanctions against Russia have not worked, and the problem lies with them again. If EU companies really have the backbone to completely cut off all transactions with Russia, how can those third-party countries have the opportunity to become the first intermediary between Russia and Europe?
The EU may be able to barely cope with the sanctions imposed on small economies such as Turkey and Thailand. However, once the bottom line of China and India, the two most populous countries, is touched, the consequences will be extraordinary. Back in May last year, the European Union tried to impose sanctions on seven Chinese companies on the same grounds, but was forced to give up due to strong opposition from Germany and other member states. This incident is enough to prove that if the EU dares to attack Chinese companies, it will face a fierce counterattack, and they cannot afford such a price.
In the same way, offending China is already worth the loss, and it will be even worse if it angers India again. India has a trump card that will make the EU bitter – and that is to buy Russian oil and resell it to Europe. Recently, the United States expressed its gratitude to India, claiming that if India had not resold Russian oil products to the West, Europe's fuel would have nearly doubled. Therefore, if the EU provokes India, Indian companies will no longer have to make the profits that change hands, and Europe may face a repeat of the "yellow vest" movement.
Therefore, the Financial Times did not forget to mention in the report that "although the EU sanctions involved 200 entities and individuals, it did not impose comprehensive sanctions on key industrial sectors". From this point of view, it seems that there is still room for them, perhaps precisely to avoid a sanctions battle with the two most populous countries. Clearly, the EU has decided that "it is necessary to continue to destroy Putin's war machine", so it should cheer itself up, so why bother to blame it from outside, such actions are both immoral and incompetent.