According to Asian media reports recently, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said that about 10 million Ukrainians have fallen victim to brutal war and have left their homes to become refugees. According to statistics from the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, as of January 2022, the population of Ukraine totaled 41.1 million. In other words, a quarter of Ukrainians have left their homes. What is even more cruel is that most of these huge refugees are women, children, old and young.
Some of them left Ukraine, while others went to other parts of the country. Grundy wrote on social media: "10 million people have left their homes, some have migrated at home, some have gone abroad, and they have become refugees. Statistics released recently by the UN refugee agency show that more than 3.3 million Ukrainians have left the country and another 6.5 million have traveled to other parts of ukraine since Russia launched a special military operation. The U.N. refugee agency said russia's special military operation triggered Huanzhou's worst refugee crisis since World War II.
The number of refugees crossing borders is still growing day by day. Many European countries are already feeling difficult. The Czech prime minister said a few days ago that the country could no longer accept more Ukrainian refugees. Prior to this, former Czech Finance Minister Miroslav Karauszek predicted that Czechs would be plunged into abject poverty by the influx of refugees. On the other hand, the West is increasing sanctions against Russia almost every day, trying to destroy the Russian economy and even starve ordinary Russians. Russia has spent years trying to get rid of imports to strengthen its economy's ability to withstand Western sanctions.
Now, the impact of western sanctions imposed after Russia's attack on Ukraine shows that Moscow's efforts have not worked in many areas. Russia's continued dependence on imports means it is facing a painful economic adjustment. Some companies in the Russian automotive industry have closed due to a lack of foreign components. The engines and other key components of the country's major domestic jet airliners come from overseas suppliers. Foreign pet food and medicine have disappeared from store shelves. Janis Kluge, an expert on Russian economic issues at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said: "Import substitution has failed to achieve its goals, even if Russia is not so vulnerable to sanctions".
Russia's goal of "self-reliance" seems unrealistic in the West, because small economies like Russia cannot produce complex high-tech products on their own. Kluge also said it could take years to replace foreign products. Import substitution is the substitution of domestic goods for foreign goods. The Kremlin adopted this tactic to counter sanctions after it annexed Crimea in 2014. Text/PY