Editor's note: Rabi Sankar Bosu is an Indian contributor to Chinese media outlets. He writes about Chinese politics, social and cultural issues, and China-India relations with a special interest in the Belt and Road Initiative. The article reflects the author's views, and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Eleven days have passed right after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24 with an aim of the "demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine," ignoring threats from the West. The whole world with frightened eyes is now witnessing clashes continue in Ukraine with many casualties.

It is now clear to everybody that the U.S. has created this war-like situation through its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies by increasing its military might in Russia's neighboring countries. America knows very well that Russia will not tolerate a pro-U.S. or pro-NATO government in any of its corners. If the U.S. and NATO states decide to fire its guns against Russia over Ukraine's shoulders, won't that be a "threat to state security" to Russia?

Even though China has not supported Russian military operation into Ukraine, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying openly condemned the U.S. for the Russia-Ukraine conflict. She said on February 23: "Lately the U.S. has been sending weapons to Ukraine, heightening tensions, creating panic and even hyping up the possibility of warfare."

It is clear that the Ukrainian crisis is just an occasion for President Joe Biden's "Great Game" 2.0 strategy to strengthen the U.S. hegemony over its NATO allies, which have been negatively affected by President Donald Trump's administration. Many international analysts believe that Biden with his "cold-war" mindset is keen to trap Ukraine in an invincible conflict with Russia in order to bring back the lost glory of a decaying America and brighten his image ahead of the 2022 U.S. by-election.

On the other hand, the way the Western media outlets are trying to portray Volodymyr Zelenskyy a great patriot and brave president of Ukraine is a mere propaganda. In reality, he is a close ally of the U.S. and has been doing everything at its behest. The U.S., the 27-nation European Union, the United Kingdom and NATO may have a lot to say about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict but they cannot escape responsibility for the present escalation.

However, Russia's military operation in Ukraine has endangered not only Ukraine but the whole world. Many around the world are looking at the third round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine on March 7, no matter whether any peaceful solution will come out at all or the conflict will take a more horrific shape after the ceasefire.

Following Putin's recognition of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions as independent states, as well as the Russian military operation, Zelenskyy made a passionate appeal to the West to impose sanctions on Russia and sought military support, blaming Putin for Russia's "full-scale" offensive in Ukraine. The U.S., the EU, the UK, Australia, Canada and Japan have imposed a barrage of sanctions on Russia to "stand with Ukraine" to punish Russia.

Now the most important question is whether these embargoes, such as economic sanctions, communications bans, transport bans or media bans, will be effective at all for Russia, a huge nuclear power which is the world's 11th largest economy with its gross domestic product measured at $1.48 trillion as of 2020.

It is worth noting that since the time of Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, the U.S.-led Western countries have imposed several economic sanctions on Russia. If economic sanctions had really worked, Russia would not have risked launching its military operation against Ukraine from multiple directions for fear of further sanctions.

As of now, the Western nations' sanctions include a SWIFT ban for seven Russian banks and penalizing the ultra-wealthy Russian oligarchs of Putin's inner circle and economic sanctions against Belarus, to list a few.

The U.S. and its allies are of the opinion that banning Russian banks from the SWIFT system will cripple the Russian economy. On February 24, Biden announced a sanction package that will limit international trade with Russia. "Putin is the aggressor; Putin chose this war, and now he and his country will bear the consequences," the U.S. president said.

Joining the EU, the UK and Canada in banning all kinds of Russian airlines, on March 2, the U.S. had also closed its airspace to Russian planes in order to give a blow to Russia's aviation industry. Russia also shut down its airspace in a retaliatory move on countries banning its flights.

Going one step further, on March 2, the EU imposed a ban on almost all Russian media outlets including RT and Sputnik from broadcasting in the bloc over the allegation of "systematic information manipulation and disinformation" against the EU and its member states. Justifying shutting down RT and Sputnik, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that these media outlets "will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin's war and to sow division in our Union."

But the suspension of the broadcasting activities of Sputnik and RT in the EU is a desperate move on the part of the West to isolate Russia from the rest of the world. More importantly, banning or blocking Russian media on social media by the Western world is a true mockery to the Western ideas of "freedom of speech and expression."

The banning of the Russian media reminds us of an old adage – "Practice what you preach." Regrettably, right after the Ukraine crisis, Western politicians, media publications and TV studios eulogized President Zelenskyy even when there's nothing to show and his misgovernance go unreported while blaming Russia, China and India for the ongoing conflict. In almost every editorial published in the Western media, Putin was portrayed as a villain, a war-monger. Do the Western journalists or writers really present "both sides" of the crisis?

It can be said that the U.S.-led Western world is trying to bring Putin to their knees by throwing a bunch of "sanction-hit" missiles from their arsenal against Russia. But the result will not be good for the West in the future since many European countries depend on Russian gas and petrol.

It is an unwise and infantile way of thinking that Ukraine will develop depending on America instead of building a good relationship with Russia. The Ukraine-Russian crisis should be resolved politically through negotiation and consultation.

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