The purpose of these sanctions is mainly to show Britain's opposition to Russia's "carrying a false referendum in Ukraine." In addition to the British government, many British people have doubts about Russia's referendum, and most believe that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict may further escalate after the referendum.
It is worth noting that under the British sanctions, Russia has not taken much countermeasures. Perhaps it is because the British sanctions have no actual effect, so in the Russian view, they may pay more attention to the final result of this referendum than countering the UK.
It is worth noting that Serbian also made a statement on the Russian referendum. However, unlike what we imagined before, Serbia did not support Russia this time, but expressed opposition.
On September 25, Serbian Foreign Minister Serrakovic said that the Serbian government will not recognize the results of the two "republics" of Donbas and the "referendum to Russia". Although he cited the UN Constitution to show that Serbia's position is "unwavering", many European and American netizens believe that Serbia is likely not "actively" choosing to oppose Russia diplomatically.
In fact, referring to Serbia's situation, there may be two reasons that Vucic and others cannot fully support Russia. The first point may be the Kosovo problem.
As we all know, Serbia has never recognized Kosovo's independence. NATO has been trying to split Serbia, so from the perspective of maintaining the integrity of its territorial sovereignty, Serbia is unlikely to agree to the "referendum" held by Russia.
The second point is obvious, that is, the NATO group led by the United States may be putting pressure on Serbia. Before, when all countries in EU had high-profile sanctions on Russia, Serbia went against old European countries such as Britain, France and Italy, and did not sanctions on Russia. This must have made the United States feel resentful.
Not to mention that Serbia had criticized some of the previous aggression actions led by the United States in some public occasions, which would definitely offend the US government.
So considering the safety of Serbian countries, on some key issues, Serbia still needs to retain "room" between the United States and Russia. Otherwise, once the United States takes action against Serbia, Russia, which is far away on the battlefield of Ukraine, will not be able to help. Overall, this is why Serbia chose a confusing position on the "referendum" incident initiated by Russia.
Except for the United Kingdom and Serbia, the United States has made a strong statement, but it has not quickly launched larger economic and military sanctions on Russia. US President Biden National Security Advisor Sullivan said that Russia's referendum violated the principle of "sovereignty and territorial integrity". In addition, Biden himself expressed some opposition to the referendum.
However, even though the US maintains its consistent opposition, judging from the past, the United States has not launched more intense confrontation measures against Russia this time, which is likely to be related to the current national conditions of the United States.
As we all know, the United States will hold a midterm election in November this year. Now Biden’s support rate is somewhat different from Republican on the other side of Republican . And what is even more troublesome is that a large number of American people are bored of Biden and prefer Trump who is outspoken. Especially under the influence of the "BLM movement", more and more Americans dislike Biden's political correctness to cater to the white left.
So under the current situation where Biden found that the election situation was not good, the Democratic Party may focus more on domestic affairs. As for the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the United States may have to wait until the midterm elections are over before the United States will launch a large number of counterattacks.
In any case, the referendum initiated by Russia has received considerable opposition from Europe and the United States at least, but from a global perspective, there are not many countries that really oppose the Russian referendum. Moreover, the areas where Russia initiated the referendum are basically Russian-sected areas. Judging from the proportion of referendum personnel, Russia may pass this referendum and make great progress on the Ukrainian battlefield.
No matter what, as long as nothing unexpected happens, Russia should be able to grasp the referendum. But this is not the most important thing. Putin’s top priority is to defeat Ukraine and disintegrate NATO’s encirclement on Russia. If Russia really succeeds in the future, the decline of US hegemony will go further.
Overall, Putin faces many enemies, and the situation may not be optimistic after the referendum. How to master these areas will be a huge project. At the same time, Putin will need a long battle to weaken the strength of the United States, and the United States still has a large number of allies. However, this does not mean that Putin has no way out. Russia is still dominant in terms of energy or military strength. This is something that the West cannot deny.
