Results 2019: worries and hopes, troubles and victories of Russia

Choosing the only word with which to characterize the year 2019, which goes into history, we unwillingly stop at the definition of “alarming”. Fortunately, mankind managed to avoid global upheavals such as a large-scale war, although at times we came close to this line, but the world, alas, did not become safer, friendlier, or calmer over the past year. On the contrary, it increased the number of diverse lines of confrontation and centers of conflict - in policy, the economy, ideology and other areas. However, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

What was he all the same, leaving us in 2019? What was more in it - bitterness or joy, hope or threat? Well, you guessed it already ...

Russia - West

No matter how much I would like to write at least something positive on this matter, but, alas ... It doesn’t work out in any way. The vast majority of events of the outgoing year indicate that no "warming" in this area has yet to be expected. All new sanctions, reproaches, accusations and threats. Attempts to “expose” our country in more and more “malicious actions” according to long-drawn-up scenarios: we “liquidate” someone somewhere, then “interfere” in someone else’s elections ... The United States, which sets the tone in the politics of the “collective West” has firmly and thoroughly “embarked on the warpath” with us, and Europe is not yet ready to act against the will of the overseas “elder brother”, albeit to her detriment. Perhaps the main negative event, which could have very sad and far-reaching consequences, was the US withdrawal from the Medium and Short Range Missiles Treaty, to which Russia was forced to react accordingly. Another step towards an arms race, and most importantly, an increase in the likelihood that they will be put into operation. It is impossible not to admit that the geopolitical rivalry of the United States and Russia in 2019 has significantly exacerbated. The main "points of contact" of the two world powers in it were Syria and Venezuela. Objectively admit - today we are "gaining the upper hand" in both places. Washington could not replace the unwanted regime in Caracas, replacing it with its puppet, despite all efforts. And the Americans had to get out of Syria completely. The White House also did not dare to take a military adventure in Iran, before which, as it sometimes seemed, there were less than a half-step. Not the last role in this was played by the rather tough position of Moscow.

The situation on the economic plane does not look so optimistic. Unconditional success is the launch of “Turkish Stream”, scheduled for January 8 next year and the already completed commissioning of the “Power of Siberia”. But here the "Nord Stream-2" our overseas "well-wishers", acting without any rules, not washing, so skating, still managed to slow down. In the process of what was happening, it became extremely clear - the United States would not calm down until it “blocked” Russian energy exports, primarily to Europe, to the maximum. We have to go with this in the future year, we have to fight with this, because "it will not resolve itself" in any case. Not that adversary. Perhaps, the dramatic epic with Turkey’s purchase of the Russian Tri-S-400 S-XNUMX air defense systems, which Ankara brought to its logical conclusion, despite the colossal pressure and natural tantrums of Washington, can also be attributed to the category of unambiguous foreign policy positive. Not that the Turks were such beautiful allies, but the fact that they managed to drive a wedge between them and the Americans, and at the same time pretty much undermine the "indestructible unity" of NATO, is a victory in itself. What will happen next - see. A compromise was reached in Syria, but Libya was ahead. Generally speaking, this year, as never before, perhaps, our country began to expand its sphere of foreign policy interests “on far borders”. At least the Russia-Africa Summit, the first of its kind, at which it was decided to organize a permanent Forum in the same format, is very indicative in this regard. If this does not remain an empty declaration, the prospects can open up very attractive.

Russia and the "near abroad"

In the relations of our country with its closest neighbors on a geographical map, 2019 was, honestly, in the first place, a year of unfulfilled hopes. The elections in Ukraine and the victory of a completely unexpected candidate for them, gave rise to some a whole bunch of wonderful souls and expectations. The disappointment from the “tramp”, apparently, didn’t teach anyone anything ... In fact, in the end result we got the same Russophobic, vicious, hostile and controlled from Washington “unassailable”, but in a slightly less disgusting “packaging”. Neither the punitive regiments hanging over the Donbass, nor the Nazi hordes, atrocities in Ukrainian cities and towns, have gone away. The summit held in Paris in the “Norman” format at the end of the year, at which Putin and Zelensky met for the first time, as well as subsequent events (such as the ongoing talk of Kiev about the need to “rewrite” both the “Minsk agreements” and the “Steinmeier formula” "), Convincingly demonstrate that the ordeals of the uncontested Donbass are still very far from completion. And his return to Ukraine on any terms is becoming increasingly unbelievable even for the most ardent optimists. One of the brightest “spots” in Russian-Ukrainian relations was the conclusion of a new gas transit agreement, which was the result of a mutual compromise. In the debate about who lost on this transaction and who won, many copies have already been broken, but time will tell how it will actually be. In any case, next year, problems with Ukraine will not go anywhere. To solve them - one way or another, will have to. As we all see, crazy claims about the "return of the Crimea" have not gone away. Yes, and conversations about the return of "ancestral territories" in recent years are heard more often, and on both sides of the border.

However, the irritation from all the inconsistencies and problems with the “non-brotherly” Ukraine that became five years ago cannot be compared with the bitter sediment that the “turbulence” that arose in 2019 in relations between Russia and Belarus left behind. The creation of the Union State, declared 20 years ago, has almost reached an impasse, as are the processes of “deep integration” of the two countries in the economic sphere. The scandal with dirty oil in the Druzhba pipeline prettyly spoiled Minsk’s already becoming cooler attitude towards Moscow, and rekindle with new force the flames of claims regarding the “tax maneuver” and other issues that threaten to put an end to the “Belarusian emirates” for Russian account. Lukashenko’s statements balancing on the very verge of Russophobia, coupled with his demonstrative “flirting” with the West, raise concerns: will we not get yet another “non-brothers” on our border in the near future? Understand then ... By the way, it was this year that some of the former brothers in the “indestructible alliance” (besides the Ukrainians) had the opportunity to find out the price of Russophobia in specific monetary units. Anti-Russian antics in Tbilisi, followed by a breakdown in airline connections between the countries, cost Georgia at least $ 300 million, according to the estimates of the head of the National Bank, and resulted in a rapid depreciation of the national currency, accompanied by hyperinflation. At the same time, the situation in Moldova changed quite unexpectedly, where as a result of the government crisis, which almost turned into another “color revolution”, it was possible to "push" forces clearly unfriendly to our country from the government. However, it is too early to celebrate the victory in this direction either - Chisinau has not yet renounced the "pro-European" aspirations.

Russia - home affairs

It was uneasy in our Fatherland all of 2019. According to the estimates of the Center for Social and Labor Rights (CSTP), almost one and a half thousand various protests took place throughout the year, which is an undoubted record for the past few years. The motivation is very different - from problems with garbage and dissatisfaction with the construction of churches to the elections to the Moscow City Duma. Some of our Western "friends" inflated the last "mess" with such zeal that the puppeteers' ears "sticking out due to" spontaneous actions "got out for all to see. On the one hand, it is impossible not to recognize the problems that are unconditionally present in the country (and, by the way, where they don’t exist ?!), and on the other hand, there is an increase in the activity of all kinds of “oppositionists” and street “protest leaders”, which testify to the fact that the West is not only refuses the idea of ​​“rocking” Russia from the inside in order to bring it down as a result of the “color revolution”, but he intends to invest even more forces and means in the implementation of just such a scenario. There were many real troubles in the life of the country - Siberian fires, the Irkutsk flood, a catastrophe on a submarine in the Barents Sea, which claimed the lives of 14 heroes and sailors, an explosion at a training ground near Severodvinsk ... Enough and not so tragic, but very large-scale in their the negative consequences of incidents, which seemingly suspiciously like a thoughtful diversion of oil pollution in Druzhba, a number of accidents and incidents at defense facilities. The end of the year was overshadowed by the attack on the FSB reception room in Lubyanka, which claimed the lives of security officers and, fortunately, did not develop into a massacre. All this makes us, willy-nilly, think about how much of all these emergency situations is sloppiness and a combination of circumstances, and how much is someone else's malicious activity.

And yet, you should not draw the outgoing 2019 with only gloomy colors. And though, according to polls conducted by VTsIOM, almost half of our fellow citizens called it “difficult” and “difficult”, but there were achievements, victories, and just good miracles in it! What else can we call a fantastic landing of the A321 Ural Airlines board on a corn field ?! Although ... No, this is not a miracle, but the fantastic skill and self-control of the crew commander Damir Yusupov and co-pilot George Murzin prevented the inevitable, it would seem, death of more than two hundred people. True Heroes of Russia. More often this title would be received like this - saving people's lives. And not posthumously ... In the end, our rockets soared into space, and on the Crimean bridge, contrary to all the "black" forecasts, trains went. The Kuril Islands, contrary, again, to the prophecies of the "all-feller", we did not give and are not going to give. Russia declared its superiority in the development of the Arctic, the Far North, and confirmed the right to it with concrete achievements, such as technicalboth military. At the same time, the shield that today allows Russia to live with its mind, and not at someone’s direction, continued to be forged at an accelerated pace. Build, raise children and not be afraid of tomorrow. In 2019, only 19 vessels of various classes (both combat and support) were accepted into the Navy of the country, 17 ships were launched, another 15 were laid on the stocks of shipyards. And on December 27, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to the head of state that the first regiment, the Strategic Missile Forces, armed with hypersonic "Vanguards", took up combat duty. It so happened, and not our fault, that Russia now has life, where the main news often resemble a frontline summary. What can you do - times do not choose ...

It remains only to hope that the coming year 2020 will be truly happy for all of us. This is a reference not to numerology, which I honestly admit do not believe in a single gram, but rather to Soviet childhood with “happy” tickets, where the first part of the number was equal to the second. Do you remember? You can laugh, but on New Year's Eve I want to believe in good omens, especially from childhood. And by the way, the year with such a combination is the last for the entire millennium. No, I should be lucky, definitely! May this year really bring only good to all of us, our country, our common home.

Happy New Year!