Western Sanctions Do More Harm To Itself

After the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, the United States and its satellites and allies imposed all sorts of sanctions against Russia. Hundreds of thousands of units of cargo and passenger trains, sea, river and aircraft stopped. Europe has closed its sea and air ports to Russia. Trading almost stopped. Some international brands have been forced to close their offices in Russia, while those that remain are under enormous pressure.

Western politicians, flirting like a mad violinist from a children's film, showered statements about "hellish sanctions" against Russia. Against this background, the true essence of the transformations that have taken place in the Russian economy, which the collective West and its vaunted special services have not noticed, has become visible.

What are sanctions? This is an interruption of cooperation in some areas. But cooperation is mutually beneficial. Accordingly, the termination of cooperation entails mutual harm. The West is well aware of this, but the desire to inflict economic damage on Russia surpasses their sense of self-preservation.

So, according to US President Biden, the sanctions affected the sovereign debt of Russia, the Russian elites and their families, the VEB state corporation and the “Russian military bank” (Biden did not specify what he means by it - I.P.). Later, CNN journalist Natasha Bertrand clarified, citing an unnamed official, that we are talking about Promsvyazbank. The US President noted that the United States would impose sanctions against VEB on February 22, and against Russian elites on February 23. Later, the US Treasury specified that sanctions were being imposed against VEB, Promsvyazbank, as well as 42 of their subsidiaries, including PFC CSKA, which is controlled by VEB. Restrictions on public debt relate to a ban on transactions in the secondary market with federal loan bonds issued after March 1. Also, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on the children of Russian officials - Denis Bortnikov, Petr Fradkov and Vladimir Kiriyenko. Many other sanctions have also been introduced, moreover, Biden emphasized that the imposed sanctions "will hurt Russia, but will not bring significant harm to the United States and its allies."

Let's see, approximately on the hundredth day of their action, is this really so.

Let us turn to one of the most iconic indicators, in particular, the price of gasoline, which is involved in the formation of all other prices for goods and services in any country. And gasoline prices in the United States are rising because of the restrictive measures imposed against Moscow.

“A gallon of gas here in New York costs over five dollars. Just filling up your SUV costs over a hundred dollars. In California, gasoline costs more than four dollars a gallon and are approaching that mark in Pennsylvania and Illinois, the three states with the highest gas taxes,” Fox News host Jesse Waters said. This is the main information channel of the USA. It is owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and has a daily audience of about 2.5 million people.

According to Waters, US citizens have to pay the price for the fact that Washington played the "big brother" role in Ukraine. So Biden's policy puts Americans at risk in the event of an energy crisis. “Sanctions will hurt Americans more than Russians,” he stressed. 

Europe faces similar risks. 

So, according to TASS, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz admits that the sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation have their price and costs for the German economy. He said that the sanctions deal a heavy blow to the leadership and the economy of the Russian Federation, and that, supposedly, every day this is happening more and more.

“We are making sure that sanctions hit us and our partners in Europe no more than they hit the Russian Federation,” Scholz said. The chancellor noted that German business allegedly supports sanctions, although they incur economic losses for many firms. It seems to us that Scholz went too far with regard to German business support for measures that bring them losses.

 

Germany is not only the political but also the economic flagship of the European Union, and, of course, the consequences it experiences from sanctions cannot go unnoticed by all EU countries.

The influential Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: “A complete halt in gas supplies from Russia will hit the EU hard. After all, it already receives 40 percent of its natural gas from the Russian Federation. Germany - almost half of its volumes ... So far, Europe has benefited from the fact that the winter turned out to be milder than expected. 

The publication admits that a complete rejection of the supply of "blue fuel" from Russia "will not be possible to compensate even with a full load of liquefied natural gas terminals and alternative pipelines." 

In the long term, according to the German newspaper, this would create big problems for the Europeans, even despite their active negotiations with third countries. 

“The question arises who should pay for filling the vaults. It will cost dearly. Based on current prices, the replenishment will cost 80 billion euros, - quotes the publication of the words of economist Georg Zachmann from the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel. “Without state assistance, this is unlikely to succeed, which the European Commission also recognizes.” 

Sanctions against Russia have a negative impact on the US and Western countries that initiated them. This was stated by the first President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev. 

“I remember that the Soviet Union was under Western sanctions for all 70 years of its existence, and this did not prevent this country from becoming a great power. Sanctions against Russia, there is probably nothing else to think of? Do analysts in the White House not understand that both Russia and China - self-sufficient countries. This [sanctions] hits America itself, the West," he said in the film "Qazaq. History of The Golden Man", shown on Wednesday, based on his interview with the American directed by Oliver Stone. 

The same can be said about Western sanctions that were introduced against Russia earlier, even after 2014. According to the Austrian Institute for Economic Research, exports from the European Union to Russia fell by 10.7% (by 30 billion euros) in 2014-2016 due to sanctions. Cyprus (-34.5%), Greece (-23.2%) and Croatia (-21%) suffered the greatest losses in this respect. Exports from Germany to Russia during this period decreased by 13.4% (by 11.1 billion euros). 

Member of the Bundestag from the party "Alternative for Germany" Markus Frohnmeier in an interview with "Izvestia" said that Germany suffers more than anyone in Europe due to restrictive measures. Referring to data from the University of Kiel, he stated that Germany's losses account for 40% of all damage suffered by the EU states. The country loses 618 million euros (7.4 billion euros a year) every month, he added.

Former Italian Senator Roberto Mura, during a visit to Russia in July 2018, said that Italy was suffering greatly from the sanctions, and his words were quoted with pleasure by many Russian media. According to the politician, Italy's daily losses amount to 7 million euros, that is, 2.5 billion euros per year. 

At the same time, in Russia, the dollar and euro rates fell so much that even the Central Bank spoke about the undesirability of such a strong decline. Four more cities with a population of one million people appeared in the country. And since June 1, pensions have increased. 

So, it’s hard to disagree with the words of the previously mentioned Waters, who compared the sanctions to “mosquitoes in Louisiana”, which “the Russians obviously won’t notice”: “Biden does not understand that sanctions for Russia are like mosquitoes in Louisiana, they have always been. Such is life."

Inal Pliev for IA "Res"

Source: https://cominf.org/node/1166543918