View of the Grand Kremlin Palace. Archival photoMOSCOW, May 11. The West failed to persuade most countries of the world to impose sanctions against Russia because of the military operation in Ukraine, former UN Secretary-General Hans-Christoph von Sponeck said in an interview with Izvestia. The diplomat noted that Brazil, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, the countries of South Africa and the Middle East refused to support the demands of the United States, Canada and the EU for restrictions on Moscow. «Attempts to find a global majority supporting sanctions against Russia have completely failed,» Sponeck said. to resolve the conflict, and the people against whom they were introduced became their victims.EU 'nightmarish' misconceptions about anti-Russian sanctions revealed in Germany «Instead of the sanctions ping-pong between the two sides, which is currently being played out to the point of absurdity, despite the risk of serious consequences for the well-being of people, round-table negotiations should begin as soon as possible,» — considers the former Assistant Secretary General of the UN. As the Berliner Zeitung newspaper reported earlier, Sponeck signed an appeal by German public figures to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz calling for the cessation of arms supplies to Ukraine, as they prolong the conflict and do not help a peaceful diplomatic settlement. After the start of a special military operation on denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine, Western countries have stepped up sanctions pressure on Moscow. In Europe, calls to reduce dependence on Russian energy resources began to sound louder, many brands announced their withdrawal from the country. The European Union, the United States, Canada and other countries have closed the skies for Russian aircraft. The Kremlin called these measures an economic war, the likes of which have never been seen before. As President Vladimir Putin noted, sanctions have dealt a serious blow to the entire global economy, and the main goal of the West is to worsen the lives of millions of people. According to him, current events draw a line under the global dominance of the West in both politics and economics.
